Spike's Story
by Jacknimble
Summary: Finally, a proper story for Spike!
1. Chapter 1

Spike was standing in front of the high school, staring up at its imposing facade. The freshmen started the year earlier than the rest of the student body, allowing them to get acquainted with the layout of the building and the rest of their peers before being pressured by grades and upperclassmen.

Spike wished Twilight was there. Even if he was adopted, Twilight was still his big sister, and he was still her little brother. Shining Armor was still his hero, and his parents still loved him like he was one of their own. He needed some support right now, but he couldn't have anybody pick him up or drop him off, he'd look like such a baby in front of all his new classmates. And he really didn't need that, he was weird enough being adopted, new to the town, and being Pawnee. Of course, none of that would matter if he got caught with the thing in his pocket.

Spike's hand twisted around the object, running his thumb across the smooth surface, just knowing it was there was all he needed to calm his nerves as he pressed through the front doors. Meeting his new world, addressing his fate, falling flat on his face!

"Ow…" he muttered, sitting up and glancing at what he tripped over as he had walked through the door. It was a girl, no bigger than he was, and with her scrawny legs, she very well could've been smaller. She glanced up at him, rubbing her forehead, a band-aid on her cheek. The girl had short, choppy hair and steady purple eyes.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She said. Spike stood up and dusted himself off.

"Oh! I'm really, really sorry about that!" He exclaimed, holding out a hand to help the girl to her feet. It wasn't until the girl glared back at him with her hard face that Spike realized his mistake. The thing he had tripped over wasn't the girl, but what was sprawled on the floor behind her. A collapsed wheelchair had tipped on its side and was a testament to why the girl's legs seemed disproportionate to the rest of her body.

"Oh ha ha." She said, rolling her eyes and turning from Spike, "Very funny, wise guy." The girl went to work trying to fix her wheelchair to an upright position for her to climb into.

"No!" Spike said, rushing around to try and help fix the chair, "Honest, I didn't mean anything by it! I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" Spike was babbling. Twilight had always told him that if he was babbling nobody would understand him and to slow down and breath. He followed her advice and took a deep breath in, and sighed before continuing, holding out his hand again, this time for a handshake, "My name is Spike."

The girl took a look at the hand and climbed into her chair instead of taking it into her own palm, "Scootaloo."

"Nice to meet you…" Spike said, being cut off by a much louder voice.

"Scootaloo! There you are!" Around the corner came a smiling girl, a little taller than Spike. Her red hair tied back by a pink bow and her face smattered with freckles that could only occur from working in the sun.

"Hey Apple Bloom, what's up?" Scootaloo said, smiling up at her friend, ignoring Spike.

"Who's this?" Apple Bloom asked, pointing at Spike without care for tact.

Spike shrugged it off and held out his hand again, "The name's Spike. Nice to meet you…"

"I'm Apple Bloom," she said, grabbing a hold of Spike's hand and shaking it vigorously. "Maybe you've heard of my family, we run the orchard in town!"

"The Apple family? Do you have a big sister named Applejack?"

Apple Bloom nodded her head.

"Come on, Apple Bloom, let's go find Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo whined, wheeling herself in place.

"Yeah, in a minute! How do you know my sister?"

"My big sister is a friend of hers. Twilight Sparkle?"

Scootaloo groaned and slumped in her chair, "Yeah, yeah, small world, whatever. Let's go, Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and leaned in to whisper to Spike, "She gets cranky in the morning. Wanna come along with us?"

"Uh, sure. If you'll have me…" Spike was looking at Scootaloo, who didn't seem too keen on the idea, "Who was it you were looking for?"

"Our friend Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said, grabbing the handles of Scootaloo's wheelchair and pushing her along. "She's Rarity's little sister, if you know my sister, you've probably met hers too."

"Haha, yeah… I did…" Spike said, he was blushing a little bit, thinking about the older girl. Another friend of his sister who he had met. Rarity was easily the prettiest girl he had ever met, but he never had a chance with her. She didn't pay him any attention except when he was doing something for her personally.

"Let's check the music room, she might be singing," Scootaloo suggested.

Spike tagged along behind the girls, a little nervous about what he might be walking into. He never really had friends before, unless you counted his sister's. And he didn't. It also wasn't helpful knowing that the person he was about to meet was the sister of his stupid crush. What if she thought he was weird? What if Rarity had mentioned him to her? What if she mentioned him to Rarity?

But, as the trio neared the music room, Spike could faintly hear the sound of a gorgeous singing voice ringing through the air and meeting his ears gently. The closer he got, the more enticed Spike became by the mystery singer and her melodious voice.

"Sweetie!" Scootaloo called out as she took control of her chair, letting Apple Bloom's hands free to open the door, "It's us! We found some guy in the lobby!"

The tune got cut off as the door opened, "Oh? Who is it?" Asked a high pitched voice, coming from the only person in the room as she turned to face the group.

Spike was standing in the middle of the doors as they were pulled apart, a brief gust of air signaling the difference between rooms. Spike blinked through the light, tempted to raise a hand to his eyes to protect them from the sunbeams shining through the large windows adorning the other side of the room. There was a grand piano in one corner, risers in another, and even a drum kit with an emblem painted across the kick. But nothing caught Spike's eye like the girl turning to smile at him in the middle of the room. Brighter than the sunlight, nicer than the music she sang, and even prettier than her older sister Rarity.

She certainly lived up to her name.

Sweetie Belle


	2. Chapter 2

Sweetie Belle seemed to skip over the floor to where the three of them stood. She smiled and the brightness in it dazzled Spike. She stopped in front of him and held her hand out, rocking a little bit onto her heels.

"Hi!" She said.

Spike let out a very smooth sounding "Bah." He mentally slapped himself for being a complete and total dork in front of the first girl he thought was pretty since...well since Rarity.

"Real smooth dude." Scootaloo said dryly from where she wheeled herself into the room. Spike blushed at the comment and blushed even darker once Sweetie took his hand in her's and shook it laughing a little. She laughed easily it seemed.

"So are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you around before." Sweetie said as Applebloom pushed past him into the room. Spike prepared himself this time and answered with real words.

"Yeah. I was homeschooled for a long time, and before that I didn't exactly go to school."

"What did you do then?" She said her wide eyes seemed bright and naive, Spike felt as if he could study them all day and be fascinated.

A sudden crash interrupted the two of them. Spike broke eye contact with her and Sweetie whirled around clutching at her chest in surprise. Applebloom and Scootaloo were standing in front of the piano that now had part of a bass guitar sticking out of it. Scootaloo wheeled herself backwards as Applebloom fished around in the piano to get the guitar out.

"It was like that when I got here." Applebloom said as she managed to pull out the dented up piece of wood along with a few wires.

"Yeah sure it was." Spike said dryly. Sweetie giggled a little and he felt a shiver travel up his spine at the sound. It was melodious.

"Oye. We want to get to homeroom or else we'll be late." Scootaloo complained as she wheeled herself around the perimeter of the room as if she were a puma trapped in a cage. Applebloom shrugged and put the guitar back on the stand, flipping the wires into the piano and she moved to push Scootaloo again.

Sweetie Belle fell into step with them and Spike knowing no one else his age and not wanting to let Sweetie Belle out of his sight just yet followed them. The three girls chatted for a few seconds and Spike took a moment to look around at the extravagance that came with the school, it was actually pretty impressive considering how little funding they got from the board. Spike had listened in to Twilight talking to Principal Celestia about how to better send the budget, Twilight was taking her job as an assistant to the principals very seriously. If there was one thing that Spike had learned from all of this it was that Celestia knew how best to invest dollars and cents.

"Who's your homeroom teacher?" Applebloom called back to Spike pulling him up next to her. He thought for a moment trying to recall what it said on his sheet.

"Cheerilee I think. The picture they sent with it had a lady with pink hair?"

"Eyup, That's Cheerilee." Applebloom confirmed with a nod of her head, her hair being contained just barely by the bow. A thought came back to Spike he looked at Applebloom for a moment.

"Didn't your older brother date her? Whatever happened with that?" Applebloom sighed and looked off into the distance as if remembering something long ago and painful.

"It was so beautiful...yet never meant to be." A squirt of water hit the girl in the face, Scootaloo glowered up at her friend. In one hand was a spray bottle with the bottle half full of liquid. Spike was not one hundred percent sure it was water.

"No! Bad Applebloom! No shipping!" Scootaloo scolded before rolling her eyes at Spike "See what I have to deal with?"

"They were so cute together though." Sweetie Belle pouted only to have a blast of water shoot her in the face too.

"We said we wouldn't ever drag up that dark time in our lives again so we are not bringing it up! Ever. Again." She looked Spike in the face, a dark cloud passing through her eyes, he held his hands up in surrender suddenly terrified of the wheelchair bound girl.

"So what they're not dating then?" Spike asked quietly trying to keep the shiver out of his voice.

"No one knows for sure." Applebloom said cryptically wiggling her fingers in Spikes face.

To Spike's surprise they were actually some of the first few students in the room. The classroom was set up with around six rows of five desks, the only exception being in the middle where two desks were missing to provide a wheelchair sized space. Scootaloo wheeled herself into it and took out a smaller desk that sat across her lap. Applebloom grabbed one of Spikes arms and dragged him down the row before she plopped into the desk beside Scootaloo, Spike sat down and drew his legs up so that Sweetie could hurry pass him and sit in the final seat, right next to the windows.

Spike looked out the window over her head and was greeted to the sight of a parking lot and a few trees leading away. He could see a few cars pulling in and the upperclassmen slowly entering the building. He squinted and caught sight of a group of girls hovering right outside the parking lot moving around the side of the building. Probably going to sit down in front of their favorite horse statue.

The rest of their peers entered just as the bell rang sharply. Spike actually felt Sweetie jump in surprise beside him she knocked a book that she had gotten out onto the floor. Before she could move he reached down and picked it up for her.

Ms Cheerilee entered the room, a stack of books in either arm. She set them down heavily and surveyed the classroom. Spike self-consciously put his hand in his pocket and stroked the cylinder inside. Hoping against hope that she would not preform that annoying cliche that he had seen on television.

"It looks like we have a new student in our homeroom today. Spike? Could you please come up here and say a few words?"

Of. Freakin'. Course.


	3. Chapter 3

Jan 4Spike gulped. Of course, his first day at school and he had to go up in front of a bunch of kids who were basically strangers and talk about himself. He stood up slowly clenching the object all the tighter, afraid that he would break it he allowed it to slip from his sweaty palm. He scooted past Applebloom and Scootaloo.

Applebloom had a little stress ball that she was squeezing rapidly in her hand. She leaned forward and gazed at him intensely as he walked past. Scootaloo sat back and seemed to smirk at his discomfort.

Spike went past a couple of boys who only began to pay attention once they noticed his odd hair cut. In the front there were a couple of girls who had come in late and were whispering to each other as he stood in the front.

Spike scratched the back of his head and looked around. He looked at Cheerilee and she gave him an encouraging nod of the head. She had a clipboard out as if she was going to begin to take notes at any moment.

"Hi. My name is Spike." He winced at how lame that opening sounded. Spike could feel his stomach twisting into knots. He hated this, he wanted to be out of that situation right then and there. He shifted from foot to foot and looked around the classroom. The two girls in front had expensive brands on, there was a short kid who had to actually sit on some books to see the board. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were looking at him expectantly.

Sweetie Belle was smiling, Spike felt his stomach settle and it did not feel so bad all of a sudden. She didn't appear to be gloating like Scootaloo, getting off on his discomfort. Or to be studying him like Applebloom was. She was just watching him, smiling slightly and waiting for him to keep going. She seemed interested in what he had to say.

"I moved here about a year ago, I was homeschooled up until today I guess. I'm good at organizing stuff...I sort of worked in a library...that's about it." It looked as if Cheerilee was trying to keep her head up, she took a deep breath.

"What are some of your interests? Hobby's? Points of interest?" Spike thought quickly finely he came upon something that might work.

"I guess I really like rock candy, anything sweet for that matter."

"Alright then, does anyone have a question for Spike?" Spike began to fidget, he hated standing in front of people when it was this quiet, it made him feel as if he were in a courtroom or something.

It looked like no one was going to risk making the class go longer than they had to Cheerilee turned to him with another smile. As if giving him permission to sit down again. He quickly walked over, ignoring the people gawking at his hair and skin color. He plopped down in his desk wincing as it squeaked loudly.

He felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to Sweetie Belle who was smiling and giving him a thumbs up. He felt his heart flutter and knees give out a little bit. He was thankful that it had happened when he was safely back in his seat instead of standing up in front of everyone.

He returned the smile and mouthed thanks. He turned to look the other way, Applebloom was grinning at him, her cheeks and nose wrinkled and her freckles disappearing into the folds of her skin. Scootaloo while not looking very impressed at least nodded and smirked in a way that did not seem as off-putting as when he was standing in front of the entire class.

"Now listen up everyone. I will be distributing the schedules for your classes for the rest of the week, we will meet in this room once a week. You can come with me for any kind of question or problem that you might have and I would be happy to help." With that Cheerilee started handing out the papers. Spike was passed his and glanced over it quickly, it seemed to be straightforward enough.

An english course, gym, math, history, lunch (The subject he was most looking forward to), a cooking course and finally a science class to end the day on.

Applebloom looked over from her paper to his and grinned. Her stress ball seemed to be squeezed a mile a minute in her excitement.

"Sweet cinnamon rolls! The three of us got the same lunch time together, what about you Sweetie?" Applebloom leaned over Spike's desk to get a look at her friends, Sweetie also leaned over his desk to compare her's with theirs.  
Applebloom's grin grew even wider "Eyup!" She practically crowed. "The four of us should sit together seeing as our big sister's know each other. Maybe pass around their deep dark secrets." Applebloom's grin became scary and her entire face darkened. It seemed as if she had some sort of gossip to spread about her sister.

"AB cool it. You're scaring Sweetie." Scootaloo said gesturing at the trembling girl. Spike for some reason felt a tad angry at that, he didn't like seeing this girl scared. In fact if he wasn't planning on seeing Applebloom again he might just try to bite her head off, that or comfort Sweetie. Maybe both at the same time.

Sweetie Belle finally spoke up.  
"No. No. It's okay I'm fine." She did a few breathing exercises as if to cool herself down. Spike looked at her quizzically. She blushed and looked at his sheet.

"Oh cool! We have cooking together." She smiled at him, he looked at her schedule and right after lunch there it said. Cooking and Baking 101 with Granny Smith.

"And it looks like you have gym with Scoots." Applebloom said, while Spike was looking over Sweetie Belle's schedule Applebloom had managed to slip his from his desk and compare it to her friends.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Wonderful."


	4. Chapter 4

Spike kept checking his list of classes and comparing them to the door numbers. He finally found the right one and entered the gymnasium. His first class, English had gone fine the short boy had been in his class and spoke with a heavy British accent so that took a little bit of the attention off of the Native American kid with the mohawk. Still he wasn't very excited about the book list, Twilight had him read most of them for fun.

He would have rather they just let them read comic books or something to pass the class but no they had to read the 'classics'.

He would have been excited for gym if he didn't have to spend it with Scootaloo, the girl was scary. And for some reason seemed to have it out for him. Still he had to make the best of it, she was one of the three people he knew at this school who was his age.

The gymnasium was pretty big, bleachers were pushed up underneath some windows and there was an elevated stage in front of them. A small group of kids had already changed into the gym uniforms. Spike quickly dropped his stuff and raced to the bathroom to change, once he got back it looked like everyone was there.

Scootaloo was slowly pushing her chair around the perimeter of the gym, doing laps out of boredom it seemed. Spike waited until she had gone around and wheeled in front of him, he fell into step beside her. She looked up and nodded in greeting.

"Hey."

"Hi. Who teaches this class anyway?" Scootaloo began to pick up the pace a little, Spike had to break into a jog to keep up with her.

"A muscle head called Bulk Biceps. But we call him Roid Rage." Spike was just about to ask why they called him that when suddenly the door they were passing was kicked in. A guy with bright red eyes was standing behind it, in either hand was weights that looked to weigh the same amount as Scootaloo in her chair.

"YEAAAHHHH!" The guy shouted as he came into the room. Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she pulled to a stop.

"That's why."

"Okay Bulk don't strain yourself pal." A laid back voice came from behind him. Pushing the enormous guy forward a short toned athlete walked in, she had a tattoo of a lightning bolt on her wrist, it was just covered by a sweat band. Everyone knew it was there though, simply because they could identify the only high school girl in town who had it.

Rainbow Dash pushed her multicolored hair out of her face and pulled it into a loose ponytail. She looked around the room before blowing a whistle.

"Alright gather up!" Spike walked slowly and was almost barreled over by a hasty Scootaloo who skidded to a stop right in front of Rainbow Dash an ecstatic look on the young girls face. Spike walked over and sat on the ground next to Scootaloo, the rest of the class gathered around.

Rainbow Dash grinned at Spike and Scootaloo before winking.

"Okay listen up squirts, the deal is this. Bulk Biceps here is going to be your instructor for the year I'm his assistant for extra credit." Spike zonked out as she went over the rest of the plan for the year, typical stuff about, health, fitness, rules, games, and respect. Spike figured from the glazed look around her eyes Rainbow was just as bored as he was with having to go through the motions.

Spike would have preferred to just go about it. Play some basketball, run some laps, active work. Spike glanced over at Scootaloo to see what she would look like bored. To his surprise she was leaning on her knees, paying attention to everything that Rainbow Dash was saying. She didn't even seem to care that the older girl was uninterested, she was so focused on listening to Rainbow Dash.

"Okay so that about sums it up." Rainbow said as she looked around at the other kids. "I guess that we start with running laps, next we get started on soccer."

"YEEEEAAAHHHHH!" Bulk screamed in agreement. The kids stood up and slowly began to pad around the perimeter of the gym. Spike wasn't the fastest person there, but at least he wasn't like some of the other students who were just walking. What really surprised him was Scootaloo, she went hard right out of the gate. Quickly spinning her wheels and pulling in front of even the fastest runners, she had to catch herself at the turns but she kept the strong pace up. Soon she was leading the class, then she was actually passing the stragglers.

Once she got up close to Spike he saw that she was grinning wide. Not wanting her to get past him as easily as she had with the others Spike started to lay on the speed. Scootaloo was surprised at first and slowed down, only to begin to chase after him. They were neck and neck for one and a half laps, They passed the front runners and it was only them.

Spike panted for breath, his sides and heart on fire. He then stopped and let her pull ahead. She sped up and kept on going.

Spike began to go a little slower, making sure to stay out of her way as she passed him and finished the course.

The girls that he had seen back in his homeroom, the ones with the expensive clothes that looked too fancy for school were slowing down until he was walking beside him. He looked at them and smiled politely.

The one who had glasses looked him up and down while the other one just huffed. She then grew a sly looking smile.

"So Spike was it?"

"Yeah?" He responded, he had to remind himself that he had introduced himself to the class.

"My name is Diamond Tiara, that's Silver Spoon."

"Pleasure." The girl said, Spike could tell that she really didn't mean that.

"How do you know her? Friends?" Spike looked to where she was gesturing. Scootaloo sat panting in front of Rainbow Dash who was congratulating her.

"Uh sort of? Maybe?" Diamond Tiara scoffed. She leaned in close. Spike began to feel uncomfortable. He had heard rumors before about the richer families in town, snobs, elitists, things like that. So far he wasn't seeing anything that would contradict that claim.

"My suggestion to you, and I'm saying this out of the goodness of my heart. Don't get too close to those losers. Their all spaz's and freaks." Spike pulled back a little at the hostile tone. The girl's voice was dripping with venom.

"Hey Spike!" Scootaloo called, she was wheeling herself against the tide of running students. She came up in front of him. Even though she was smaller than Diamond Tiara she seemed much more threatening.

"Good run! Want to partner up for the next exercise?" She was clearly ignoring Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Spike looked down at the red faced girl, she was sweating from the race and seemed exhilarated.

"Totally." He said as he started to walk away with her. Leaving the two other girls whispering behind them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Shout out to my bro Munkman for making this story go on. If it wasn't for him bugging me about it, I never would've overcome my writers block. If y'all want to see more good stories, check him out. Or bother me so that I have to write better stuff for y'all.**

Spike toweled himself off quickly. He hated showering in public, he actually had a bit of a routine to his grooming, and it did not involve getting pelted by ice water that smelt faintly like lead. He figured he would need to get used to it though.

Spike moved out of the mens changing room and walked to the front of the gym, hopefully Scootaloo would be done soon so they could talk or hang out. She was actually pretty good at sports, even with the wheelchair. She had found a way to nudge the ball forward with her chair so that it would not get stuck underneath it.

Hopefully they would be able to pair up again next class. He felt sore yet exhilarated. Somehow Scootaloo made gym class into an actual workout and yet he enjoyed every second of it.

Spike heard the slamming of a door and heard some laughter. It sounded cruel and mocking. Spike turned to the girls changing room door and saw it swing closed as Scootaloo wheeled herself quickly away from it. Her face set into a scowl. Her hair was still wet from where she had washed it.

"Scoots?" He called to her. She did not answer and simply barreled pass him into the hall and down the corridor. Spike watched her leave, uncertain if she was allowed to do that. He debated going after her, she looked really upset, but this being Scootaloo from what he had seen she probably would not like him sticking his nose in her business.

The bell rang and Spike gave the hallway one last look before he started off for his next class. He wondered absentmindedly what the two girls had meant about Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, sure they seemed a little hyperactive, and Scootaloo being in a wheelchair, but he could not figure out why he should avoid them.

Any lingering thoughts about distancing himself from the girls were pushed from his mind once he stopped in front of his next class of the day.

Math. He sighed, just a couple more classes and then it would be lunch time. After that he would have an entire course of just him and Sweetie Belle. Maybe get to talk to her a little bit more. Spikes heart fluttered at the thought.

He had felt something like this when he had first met Rarity. She had just looked so beautiful and adult, he had been mesmerized by her. Of course he had grown up a little bit in that year, he wasn't so interested in her now, sure she was pretty but he just wasn't interested in her the same way anymore.

When he first saw Sweetie Belle he felt something very similar to how he felt about her older sister. This time though, it felt different, better. Probably because they were closer in age than he and Rarity.

An hour later Spike left his math class. He had to stroke the little plastic tube in his pocket a few times in order to get through it. He really wanted to just go straight to the bathroom and flick it on and off a few dozen times, study it. Maybe touch the tip with his fingers and wash them under cold water afterwards. But he controlled himself, after Twilight had caught him in front of the fireplace she had told him to never ever do it again.

Spike was trying really hard to keep his promise. He didn't want to break it to Twilight...but it was just so difficult! It was like telling a bird not to fly, or a fish not to swim, it would have been easier if she had asked him not to listen to music anymore! He might be able to do that.

Unless it was Sweetie Belle's singing. That was more than music, that was an experience. He could still feel the notes ringing in his bones a little bit from that morning. It stuck with him it shuddered through his head, he had heard just a few chords of the muffled melody but he could not drive the ear worm out of his mind.

Spike stopped suddenly when he recognized a person struggling down the hallway with a pile of disorganized books. The smallest and hardest to hold near the bottom, the heaviest peppered throughout and the softcover being bent. He sighed and grabbed the other side of it quickly moving the books out of Twilight Sparkles hands and quickly organizing them into an easier pile to carry.

"OH! Thank you Spike." Twilight said startled by his appearance but pleased by his quick assistance.

"Don't mention it Twi." He noticed more books and paper shoved into her backpack. "Geez did you clean out the entire library since the last time I saw you?"

Twilight looked behind her at the few corners that stuck out of the unzipped top. "It is a little extreme huh? Actually most of these are for any upcoming activities the school is planning, sports games, carnivals, movie nights. You know that kind of stuff."

Spike picked a paper off of the top of the pile and read over the quickly scrawled cursive that was on the page. Twilight had messy handwriting, one of her biggest flaws. For a person that wrote and read so much Spike expected her calligraphy to be better than that. His was better and he didn't even really try.

"So how are you finding your classes?"

"Okay I guess, it feels weird to be here. I feel like I spent all of my life in publicly owned buildings. Between here, the adoption agency and the courthouse...whatever, classes are going fine."

"Make any new friends?" Twilight asked with a knowing smile. She always acted weird whenever it came to friendship, from what Spike had learned she used to be very socially awkward. She had improved a little but Spike could still see it.

"About three so far. You know Applejack and Rarity right? They're their little sisters."

"Sweetie Belle and Applebloom? They hang around with Scootaloo too right?"

"Yup."

Twilight nodded her head and smiled. The warning bell rang, the hallway around them was empty of all students. Spike and Twilight exchanged looks before quickly running off in different directions.

"See you at home!" Spike called back over his shoulder. Twilight rounded a corner and then stuck her head back around it to shout a goodbye back to him as Spike sprinted down the corridor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Does anybody even read this or should I just stop writing?**

Spike entered the overcrowded, super loud lunchroom. Running into Twilight had made him about five minutes late for class, so the teacher had kept him after for about the same amount of time.

He had a paper bag in one hand and looked around for somewhere to sit. The place was pandemonium, very organized pandemonium but pandemonium never the less. Jocks sat with jocks, nerds with nerds and so on. Twilight had a different lunch time, he knew that much from listening to her talk at home. Spike started to enter the room, the push of students behind him pushing him forward.

"Spike!" A southern voice called him over. Looking around he spotted Applebloom standing on a seat and waving him over, he quickly ducked through the massive crowds and sat at the table that the three girls were sharing.

Applebloom had a sack lunch like his expect maybe twice as large, Scootaloo had what looked like a school hamburger and drink, and Sweetie had a salad in front of her.

"How are your classes going?" Sweetie Belle asked him as he sat down. Spike shrugged in response.

"Fine I guess, never really expected to be retaught so much stuff though."

"School does take some getting used to." She agreed. A huge crunch came from beside them, Applebloom was watching the two of them while eating an enormous golden delicious apple, laid out in front of her were two more apples, a mason jar full of apple juice, a sandwich on homemade bread and what looked like diced apples mixed with ham.

She saw Spike eyeing her lunch surprised. She chewed quickly and swallowed.

"It was a slow harvest year. We need to eat up the excess or else it goes bad." She took another big bite and held an apple up in offering. Spike reached into his own bag and lifted out one, with a Sweet Apple Acres sticker on it, she grinned at seeing it. Chunks of apple stuck in her smile.

Spike took out his own meal, his adopted mother had packed it for him. The apple, a cheese and lettuce sandwich, a plastic baggie of chips, at the very bottom he felt what he had sneaked in for himself. He pulled out the chunk of rock candy and popped it into his mouth. He crunched down and started to chew the piece of sugar up.

The girls watched as he finished and started onto the chips.

"I've never seen anyone eat rock candy like that before." Sweetie said her eyes wide. Spike blushed embarrassed.

"It's just the way I've always eaten it." He clenched his teeth at them and spoke "These things are super strong, I have the toughest teeth out of anyone I know."

He crunched a chip between his teeth to strike the point home.

"A real tough guy huh?" Scootaloo said sarcastically as she chewed into her burger. Spike blushed as the other two laughed. They all dug into their food, Spike took that time to look around the lunchroom again. Most of the people eating were from his grade, it looked like it anyway. He could identify maybe six or seven people by their faces, but he could not for the life of him put names to them.

He could recognize and name Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were sitting alone at their own table, they kept their heads together and whispered conspiratorially to each other. Looking around the room and giving glares to passerby and any kid who wandered too close.

"What is their deal?" Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked over and glowered at the two girls. Spike felt the temperature drop a solid eight degrees and he shivered a little.

"Just a couple of rich, jerky snobs who make fun of everyone and everything just because they have no real friends of their own." Applebloom ground out clenching the little stress ball Spike had seen her use earlier.

"Not that you're bitter about it or anything though right?" He asked quietly. The three of them looked at him with varying dry expressions. Scootaloo eventually snorted and picked at her food.  
"They're miserable so they think it's their job to make everyone else miserable too."

"Did they uh.."Spike started to speak only to have her glare at him, he let the subject drop. Sweetie sniffed a little and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, trying to look as grown up and above it all as possible. Spike noticed her eyes watering a little bit.

"They're just mean because we're all in the special education courses." She said, the others nodded in agreement and looked away with varying shades of discomfort.

"Huh?" Spike said quirking an eyebrow.

"Well you know how I'm a cripple right?" Scootaloo said. Spike paused at the harshness of her words. She spoke simply enough, without any venom behind the words. He nodded.  
"That's why I'm in the courses, basically we're all broken in some way and need 'special attention'" she used air quotes around the term. "So those two think it's a free pass to rip on us."

"If you guys don't mind me asking what are..." Spike trailed off looking at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie was fiddling with her napkin trying not to make eye contact, Applebloom was squeezing the stress ball.

"I pretty much have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That wouldn't be a problem if my Granny weren't so old fashioned. We aren't allowed to use most medicine yeah see, only if it's an absolute emergency, for the most part we find ways around it. Guess she just don't see it as nothing big."

"Didn't she rub a bunch or mud and flour on your brother when he broke his elbow?" Scootaloo exclaimed. Applebloom shrugged.

"Well it worked, now it only clicks a little bit when it rains." Spike turned to Sweetie expectantly.

"And you?"

"I'm just sensitive." She said her tone of voice clearly meant to drop the subject.

"Hey. I have a question." Applebloom said, beaning Spike with her apple core to get his attention. "If you're Twilight Sparkles little brother how come you don't look like her?"

"Oh my God Applebloom!" Scootaloo shouted before slamming her head on the table top.

"What?"

"You can't just ask why someone doesn't look like their family!"

"Well I am adopted." The three looked at him, waiting for more. "I come from out West. I'm Pawnee...Native American tribe? Known for our mohawk styled hair?"

"I thought that the Mohawks wore mohawks?" Scootaloo said confused. Spike sighed used to this

"No the Pawnee wore mohawks. Twilights family adopted me about a year ago, but I was homeschooled, well until today that is."

"And what do you think of it?" Sweetie Belle said, leaning forward, he caught a whiff of her. There was a little bit of perfume, but he was positive most of it was her. A strong scent of flowers.

"I think I might just learn to like it." He responded with a smile.


	7. Chapter 7

**Man I really hope I don't get sued or anything. I don't own anything about mlp, I don't know why anyone would assume I did.**

The bell rang for the end of lunch. Spike scooped up his trash, Sweetie Belle looked excited suddenly. She stood up smiling.  
"See you two later!" She said happily to Applebloom and Scootaloo. She grabbed a hold of Spikes shirt sleeve and started to pull him after her. "Come on I'll show you which room is cooking!" Spike allowed her to drag him off, stumbling as everyone made their way to the only doors in the cafeteria.

Spike was trying hard to keep his heartbeat low, he didn't want Sweetie to hear it. They weaved through the crowded hallways. She would occasionally stop to let others pass by them before moving forward.

"So how long have you been doing the cooking course?" Spike talked to her as a guy moved past them.  
"I took an after school course once but most of the stuff I learned from my Mom." Sweetie chirped back to him. Even when she was just talking her voice would somehow get a hint of music behind it.

Spike was rudely pushed from the side by a large lumpy looking guy. He wheeled widely for a second, trying t catch himself. He started to fall to the side, Sweetie Belle was standing there petrified as he fell on to her. Spike slapped his hands on either side of her, slamming against the locked. Spike looked into her eyes and blushed, Sweetie had pulled back a little and was scrunched up against the locker.

The grayish kid and his two friends were gone and the two of them were just standing there awkwardly, blushing and looking at each other.

"Oh uh sorry." Spike said pulling away.

"It's fine." Sweetie said seemingly brushing it off. She quickly started off again and Spike hurried to keep up.

The room was spotless, every surface gleaming. The ovens were already turned on and the air was hot. An old woman who had freckles on her face that were faded with age, was standing at the front of the room and counting on the students heads as they entered. She had a passing resemblance to Applebloom but only around the eyes.

"Alrighty that looks to be the last of you." she muttered out in a loud voice, as if she were slightly deaf. "Now get to your stations." The class rustled around and Spike found himself next to a sink, an oven, and a lot of baking utensils and ingredients that were already out. Sweetie stood beside him looking over what was there.

"Now I hope you all like where you stand because that's your place for the rest of the year." She said before getting to other business, how cooking was not a toy, what they would be making and how they were lucky to live in this 'brand spanking new future world.' Spike slowly drifted. It was cooking, he wasn't planning to be a chef or anything, so how hard could it possibly be?

He was much more focused on the minor bump that happened back in the hallway between him and Sweetie Belle. He had felt uncomfortable when it happened, yet she brushed it off as if it were nothing. He had gotten a long steady look into the girls eyes, sparkle was too cliche a word to use to describe them. They had gleamed. Bright and lovely, they had gleamed.

He began batting an apple that was on the counter between his two palms. His skin was so rough, broken and chapped, a lot of callouses had grown up them. Her's was smooth, he wondered if it felt as smooth as it looked. Unblemished. He blinked his eyes and looked up sharply. He could obsess over how close to got to a girl later when he was alone and drifting off to sleep. Right now he was in school, trying to learn how to make apple pie.

"So should we start with the crust or what?" He said turning to Sweetie. She was holding an egg experimentally over the bowl, patiently cracking it against the side softly. It finally broke and some shell fell in. She simply shrugged and grabbed the whisk.

"I can start on the glaze that will go on it, do you want to make the flour and sugar and stuff?" She asked him, Spike watched as she whisked one half shell with too much butter and vanilla. He winced as she added what looked to be olive oil to the concoction.

"Should that really go in?" She looked at him confused.  
"Well why wouldn't it?"  
"It is pretty flammable, and we want it on the crust right?" Sweetie looked at it for a moment, her eyes squinted.  
"Hmmmm."  
"I can do that part if you want." Sweetie put a spoon to her chin, she had been using it to stir up the mess and she got a dollop on her chin. Spike chuckled a little. She looked at him with a frown.

"What's so funny?" Spike couldn't respond and just gestured to his own chin, still laughing. Confused she touched her chin and cheek and spread the oil and eggy film along her jaw.

"Oh gross." she said grabbing some paper towels. She dabbed at her face before smiling a little herself. "Keep laughing smart guy. If you think you know how to do this then go for it. I'll peel the apples." They traded places and Spike promptly dumped out the goo she had made. He cracked the eggs carefully and began to stir gently.

Sweetie was humming softly to herself as she peeled the apples. He glanced over and accidentally looked down at her hips. She was swaying them slightly to the tune. He looked away and increased his attention on the glaze.  
"You really like to sing huh?" Sweetie looked over and smiled.  
"Yeah, it's probably one of my favorite things to do. Do you sing?"  
"No but I can play a couple of instruments."

"Really? Like what?"  
"Drums, piano, dabbled in a few others, trying to teach myself horn."  
"That is so cool." She said, Spike smiled a little bit. Sweetie looked up while still peeling the apples, the knife moving counterclockwise.  
"Hey, do you ever wonder why they don't just fry the eggs before they put them in to the pie?" Spike looked up about to explain when Sweetie jumped.

"Ouch!" She shouted dropping the knife and apple into the sink that she was peeling over.  
"Are you okay?" Spike said worried, he went over and looked at her. Sweetie had a few tears in her eyes and had her thumb stuck in her mouth. She shook her head violently to either side, her hair billowed out around her.

"Did you cut yourself." She slowly popped her thumb from her mouth.

"I don't think it's that bad." She said softly, she looked down at her thumb. Spike let out a breath of air, he felt relieved, it really wasn't so bad. He was afraid she had skinned herself or something. S few fat drops blossomed up and dropped one after another in to the sink. the apple peels slowly got stained and a fat blotch fell right onto the meat of the apple.

"Not...that...bad." She said softly. Spike looked up and quickly caught Sweetie as she fell forward. Her eyes going blank and her entire body slack, her thumb released a few more steady drops of blood that stained the black and white tile floor.


	8. Chapter 8

Sweetie tumbled into Spikes arms and he fell backwards trying to cushion her fall.  
"Sweetie Belle!" He cried out in surprise and terror. Spike began to freak out, he himself began to fall backwards. He moved one arm out of the way to feel around and find some surface to lean against.

She was hot against him, he felt her shuddering slightly, sweating through her clothes. He slid down against the cupboards and Sweetie Belle fell draped across his lap and chest.  
"Sweetie Belle!" He cried out again. Spikes brain raced a mile a minute trying to figure out what was the matter with her. Seizure? Stroke? What was happening?

"What in Tammy Hill is going on over there!" Mrs Smith shouted hobbling over, supporting herself every few steps on a counter top.  
"I don't know she just cut her finger and then she, she, she."

"Oh again eh? Calm down young feller, it will pass in a minute or two." The old woman checked the clock on the wall and then looked down at the girl being held in the new boys arms.

The rest of the class started to gather around, looking over shoulders to get a clear line of view of the unconscious girl, it would probably be the most interesting thing that happened in school for the day. Granny Smith frowned and started to shoo people away.  
"Back to work with the rest of you, nothing else to see here!"

Spike heard Sweetie moan and shift in his arms. Her eyes fluttered and then snapped wide open.  
"Oh man, again?" She said, Sweetie tried to stand up only to realize who she was leaning against. She looked up and blood rushed up to her face.  
"Sweetie are you okay?" Spike asked worried, almost shoving his face into hers.

"Give her space to breath kid!" Granny Smith said, she pulled out a chair and helped Sweetie Belle up and into it. She then took a look at the girls thumb and tutted. "That will need looking at. And this cleaned up. You there, Romeo." Mrs Smith said talking to Spike who was hovering behind her worriedly. "Take her on down to the nurses office. Make certain that she's stitched up and then hustle to your next class."

"The mess." Sweetie mumbled out looking at the floor where some blood had started to clot. Granny Smith merely shoved a rag against the girls thumb and hefted her up and back against Spike.

"It will come out with elbow grease and cold water. You two get to the nurse. And no hanky panky on the way young man." She fixed a look of sheer elderly authority on Spike that all he could do was gulp and support Sweetie Belle with one arm as they walked out of the room. One of her arms over his shoulder and the other hand firmly wrapped around itself.

The two stumbled out into the hallway. Spike kept looking down at the girl, her knees were bent a little bit as if not all of the feeling had come back into them. She shuffled down the hall looking straight ahead. Spike began to say something and then shut his mouth.

"This is why I'm in the special education courses."  
"Because you're sensitive to blood or something?"  
"No. Because I faint, basically if I get too worked up, or frightened or scared like back there. Kerplunk." She said with grim humor.  
"Wow."  
"It's been going on since I was little, it doesn't really phase me that much anymore. Still I average about one a week."  
"And you just fall unconscious? That's it?"  
"My parents used to think it was seizures but nope just me fainting."

"Thats...wow." Spike spoke softly, they took a left turn and went past a long bank of windows. He could see a courtyard and another part of the school through them. They continued on in silence. Their footsteps clicking on the linoleum.

"It's not so so bad, I mean it has gotten a littler better, I couldn't even run around or play on the playground back when I was small, mostly because my parents were afraid I would faint and fall off. Break my spine in three places or something."

Spike noticed her labored breathing and how she was slowing down a little bit, her eyes turned glassy. He became worried that she was going to faint again.  
"Do you want to sit down or something? We can take it slow." Sweetie seemed to pull herself together she turned to him and smiled softly.

"No it's fine, I can make. Can we go a little bit slower though?" Spike nodded and brought the quick walk that they had been going before to a more leisurely tread. She felt clammy where their bare skin touched together, he tried not to think about how light she felt while leaning against him, if he wanted to he could have probably picked her up and with a bit of stumbling carried her the rest of the way to the nurses office.

Sweetie Belle slowed down her pace and they came to the door. A big red X across the glass.

"Here we are."

Twilight Sparkle looked up from where she was doing homework in an empty classroom. She was also looking over study notes and any possible mistakes in a physics book that had just come out. She sat backwards and sighed in contentment. She glanced out the window and caught a couple of freshman walking down the hallway with their arms around each other.

She rolled her eyes. Couples and their weird hug walk things. She never understood it. She sat up straight as a ruler and looked back out the window again. She had recognized those two freshman. Flinging the window open she shoved the upper half of her body out of it and stood looking out as the teenagers rounded a corner in the hall. It might have been from across a school building but she could identify them from their haircuts.

Spike and Sweetie Belle. Her first thought was 'What the heck?' Her second 'Aren't they supposed to be in class?'


	9. Chapter 9

The two of them stood in front of the door. Sweetie reached up and knocked politely. They waited a beat before she entered anyway. There was a clattering around in the back, it smelt of disinfectant and grass, the kind that you bought out of a pet store. There was a crash and a cry, from behind a large nurses station popped a girl with long pink hair and a Guinea pig in her hands.

"Oh! Hello Sweetie Belle."  
"Hiya Fluttershy." Sweetie spoke softly, she appeared tired all of a sudden, as if the walk to the nurses room had drained her of her energy.  
"Oh my! What happened to your hand?" The older girl quickly walked over and fussed over the bandage wrapped around Sweetie's finger. She gasped at the sight of it.

"Oh dear! And here I am having you stand in the doorway. Please come in." She walked the two of them over to a small cot that was built into the floor, there was a paper curtain that could be pulled around the edges to hide it from view. Fluttershy motioned for Sweetie to sit down, she did so and closed her eyes taking a few deep breaths.

Fluttershy began unwrapping the towel that they were using. She inspected the cut. Standing up she quickly moved around the room, seemingly completely at home in the space. She gathered up disinfectant, cotton balls, bandages, a bandaid and some clean water. She sat down next to the girl and began working on her finger. Cleaning the blood off, dabbing at it with the alcohol and then wrapping it tightly.

"You can stay here for the rest of the day if you aren't up for anymore classes, that is if you want to." Fluttershy spoke soothingly to Sweetie.

"I just need to rest a minute, do you have any water?" Fluttershy quickly stood up and filled a small cup with water. Sweetie slowly sat up and sipped at the liquid.

"Take all the time that you need. Spike? May I speak with you a moment?" Spike nearly jumped at being addressed, he had assumed that she didn't know he had been there. The two of them walked away from Sweetie who laid back and closed her eyes.

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked, they sat in a couple of office chairs right beside the door. She took out a notepad and a pen clicking it on. Spike quickly filled her in, the two of them making pies, the two of them talking, Sweetie cutting her finger and then her fainting. He left out the part where he had awkwardly caught her, that didn't need to be said out loud.

"That sounds simply dreadful." Fluttershy said, clutching a hand to her mouth. Spike was a little surprised to see the normally squeamish girl working in the nurses office, he wouldn't have pegged her for it.

"What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have class or something?" Fluttershy looked startled before she smiled sweetly.  
"I'm a nurses assistant, Principal Celestia had a few facility members open up assistant positions for interested students. And well here I am." She leaned in and brought her voice down to a whisper. "Also don't tell anyone this but not many students get hurt here so I'm able to sneak in a few of the animals from the shelter."

The guinea pig that Spike had seen her holding earlier ran past them, making a break for the door. Fluttershy reached down and scooped him up.  
"Uh, uh, uh, you need to stay in here young man." The rodent chittered at her before it settled down in her arms.

Spike looked back at where Sweetie was laying down, he could just see her head sticking out from behind the curtain. Her eyes were closed and her the color in her face was slowly returning to normal. The sunlight was slanting through the window and hitting her in just the right way that she was illuminated, she looked like something out of a storybook, some kind of princess or something like that.

"Is she going to be okay?" Spike asked Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked up from the guinea pig's belly that she was tickling affectionately.  
"I'm not going to lie to you or anything like that Spike, she comes in here a lot. She will be fine but...well she could probably explain it better than I ever could. Do you want me to wake her and she can...?"

"No!" Spike responded a little too quickly. Fluttershy drew back a little in surprise. Spike felt his face turn bright red and he rubbed his scalp. "Uh no, she already told me a bit about it and well I can ask her if it ever comes up again."

Fluttershy looked at Spike and then over at the semi asleep Sweetie Belle. She turned a dark red and then a bright smile broke across her face. She turned to Spike with big bright eyes and he felt a little creeped out by it.

"Alright then. I can make certain that she gets better. And you should get off to class young man." Spike stood up and looked over his shoulder one more time at Sweetie Belle, she looked so serene on the couch. He felt his chest tighten down on his heart, he quickly departed just in case 'Nurse' Fluttershy could hear it, he wouldn't be surprised. The girl seemed to have a six sense for certain things like that.

Fluttershy waved to Spike as he quickly retreated down the hallway. She turned back to Sweetie Belle, she smiled the same smile that she had worn earlier and had to hold back a coo of delight. If there was one thing she absolutely adored next to her animal friends it would have to be romance. And really was there anything more romantic than young uncomfortable love?

To go off of anything that she and Rarity read in those dime store novels that they would pick up once a month and giggle over, no, no there was not.


	10. Chapter 10

Spike walked down the hall debating whether or not he should go to class. It was his first day and he wanted to make a good impression, but still he felt funky after seeing Sweetie Belle so vulnerable.

He always thought of himself as tough, not super tough, but tough enough...but Sweetie, and now that he thought about it the other two, going through stuff like this day after day. Applebloom struggling to pay attention and slow down, Scootaloo dealing with her wheelchair, and Sweetie Belle needing to be careful or else she would just go down.

And on top of all of that the bullying that he assumed they received from those other girls. They were probably the toughest girls that he knew.

He decided that he might as well finish off the day. Right before the bell rang signaling the end of class he got to the science wing and the right classroom. He was the first one in, the teacher looked up briefly before waving him to a seat. Spike sat behind a pile of lab equipment, and a chart of how to best use it without blowing up the room.

The rest of the class filed in. Near the front and making her way towards him was Applebloom, she sat down heavily beside him making the stool screech against the linoleum.

"Hey." He said in greeting.

"Hey, were you there when Sweetie went down? Is she okay?"

"Yeah from the last time I saw her, she was sleeping it off in the nurses office." Applebloom nodded her head, almost as if agreeing to what he was saying.

"So when you guys were put into the course did you know what was...different about each of you?" Applebloom thought for a bit before answering.

"No we knew each other a little bit before hand so that helped a bit. I guess we focused a little bit more on it; seeing as that was the entire point of being in the courses."

The teacher called for attention and began to go over the rules in a monotone, clearly bored by what they were teaching. Spike took out a pencil and paper and began to scribble down what was being said. After around twenty minutes he stopped to rest his hand, he looked over at Applebloom and was surprised to see that she was still going hard at it. The notes might be messy and the words scrunched together but it looked as if she were getting every word down, she stared down at the page intently her pencil flying over it.

In her other hand she was furiously squeezing and depressing the stress ball that she carried around, the poor little thing looked as if it were ready to pop open from the abuse she was feeding it. The teacher paused and began to demonstrate the experiment for the day, once it was done he started to walk around the room looking over other students shoulders and making them uncomfortable.

Spike flipped on his safety glasses before he began to carefully mix the contents on his table for their experiment.

"What's with the ball anyway?" He asked pouring some sort of purple looking chemical in with a green and white speckled one, he had not payed any attention to the names.

"It helps me focus, Cheerilee gave it to me a few years back and it's been helping me ever since. I use up all of my excess energy on that and my mind is free to pay attention to whatever is happening in the room. That's how it works for me anyways." She was still taking down notes and measurements as she spoke, her hand repeatedly depressing the ball.

The girl had enough stamina for a hundred college football players. Spike was wildly impressed.

Applebloom paused and sniffed the air.  
"Do you smell something?"

A massive boom came from the back of the classroom, rattling the glass in their panes and causing the equipment all the way at the front of the room to clink together. The two teens looked behind them. Sitting in the immediate splash zone were a soot stained Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara who both looked viciously angry. In ground zero sat the two funny looking boys Spike had seen in homeroom, most of their hair and eyebrows were gone, their shirts were torn apart and all of the equipment on their table was destroyed. Standing next to them was a very cross teacher.

"Snips, Snails. Office. Now."

"How was I supposed to know that we weren't supposed to shake it?!" Shouted the shorter of the two as the teacher escorted them out.

"Those two, they have mush for brains is what they've got." Applebloom said rolling her eyes.

"Does that happen often?"

"This school averages an explosion and/or disaster a week, get used to it." The country girl said as she went back to her notes. Spike shrugged and got back to the mixture which was only supposed to change colors. He heard a snort come from behind him.

"Hmmph most of those emergencies are caused by you spaz." Applebloom pretended not to hear and kept on scribbling. Spike looked behind him to see the two girls furiously wiping at their clothing. Diamond Tiara frowned at being ignored.  
"I was talking to you nutcase."

"Well I wasn't listening." Applebloom snapped back.  
"Well you should, people of your...kind really should start doing the rest of us favors and do what we ask. Or is a task like that just too much for a simple country folk?"

Spike looked back at Applebloom hoping to get some sort of response. She just gritted her teeth and kept on working. Diamond Tiara gave one more huff and returned to her own work.

"Man what a brat." Spike said as he finished off the concoction.  
"Bad parenting is my guess." She responded before closing her notebook and the discussion. She then looked at Spike for a moment before grinning.

"Hey me and the others are going to get something sweet after school, you up for joining us?" Spike thought for a second before he grinned.

"I think I can fit you into my busy schedule somewhere."


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys X just want to say thanks again for reading my story and leaving a review it means a lot to me. Thanks**

Spike walked with Applebloom out of the classroom. He noticed that she waited until Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were behind them to slam the door shut on their faces. She had a smug grin on her face until they met up with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the two of them were waiting out in the front of the school.

"What are you grinning about?" Scootaloo asked, her mood from the start of gym class had apparently disappeared being replaced with the stand offish attitude that she had greeted Spike with earlier.

"Nothing, just a good class." Applebloom replied. She turned to Sweetie and touched her lightly on the shoulder. "How you feeling though?"

"Fine, I just cut my finger, it's nothing." She spoke smiling a little. She looked at Spike and blushed a light red. "So should we go and get something from Sugar Cube Corner?"

The trio agreed and the four of them started off down the street towards the main drive of town. A lot of upperclassmen roared pass in cars and bikes and skateboards. Spike kept an eye out for anyone that he might be able to recognize, he wanted to get names and faces down.

They got to Sugar cube corner. Luckily enough ahead of the major crowd that would soon flow in because school had just let out. They grabbed a table because Scootaloo would not be able to fit in a booth, they went up to the counter and ordered some snacks. The girls each ordered a different flavor of milkshake, Spike bought a cupcake with some crushed nuts on top. He liked the crunch that it would add to it.

They returned to the table Applebloom grabbing a small checkerboard set that was left out.

It was not unusual for people to leave boardgames around the sweet shop, Mr and Mrs Cake actually encouraged it. They thought it would drum up business.

"Dibs on the red pieces." Applebloom said as she amassed her small pile of playing pieces and set up the board game.  
"Do we really have time for this?" Spike asked quirking an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we focus on some homework or something." Sweetie Belle laughed a little, Applebloom gave him a condescending smile and Scootaloo reached over and patted the top of his head.

"Ah Spike, so young and naive. You'll figure out how to do this all in time." Spike gave her a very dry look in response. He hated it whenever people treated him like a baby. It didn't help that he looked young for his age.

"We gonna do teams or just two separate games?"  
"Teams." Scootaloo said she quickly pointed at Sweetie "Dibs on the world champ."  
"Shut up. I'm not that good." She said rolling her eyes.  
"You beat 'Bloom four times in a row."

A flurry of activity began behind the counter, Spike turned to look in surprise. A girl was behind the counter suddenly tying an apron around her back flinging a backpack up into the air, slipping on a hat and plastic gloves, plopping three milkshakes with different flavors into three different machines and turning them on, grabbing the falling backpack and somehow whipping it across the room so that it landed in Rainbow Dashes arms as she entered the store.

The girl pulled the perfectly finished milkshakes out of the machines and plopping them onto a tray with a cupcake fresh out of an oven that she personally put the finishing touches on.

"Order up!" Pinkie called out as she bounded across a few tables, her legs not even touching the ground. She flew over a few peoples heads and deposited the food in front of the waiting kids.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie." Sweetie Belle said smiling up at the girl with a near maniacal grin on her face.

"No problem kiddo!" She looked down at the board and moved the first piece before turning around and whirling back to the counter to take her friends orders. Twilight Sparkle and her immediate group of friends had just wandered in. Twilight's and Fluttershy's eyes grew huge once they noticed the four underclassmen sitting together.

They brought their heads together, whispered off a few things to some of the others and the entire group turned to look in a stunned silence.

Spike didn't pay much attention or thought to it and instead bit into his cupcake. He studied the board, Applebloom had already lost them six pieces and Sweetie Belle had gotten her and Scootaloo a king, he wasn't even certain how that was possible, he had looked away for literally a minute. He moved a piece and after four more moves had gotten three of Scootaloo and Sweetie's pieces and two kings.

"How did you even learn to do this?" Scootaloo said in aggravation, she really didn't want to lose this one.

Spike shrugged in answer. Sweetie Belle studied the board intently, she moved her hand over one piece and then kept moving. She paused and studied it a little more.

"Dang it." She huffed.  
"How did you learn to play?" Spike asked her, she scratched at the bandage that covered her hurt finger.  
"Rarity wanted to teach me chess but that was too difficult so we settled on learning checkers. I win almost every game against her." Spike moved his piece, within three more moves and a standoff of almost two minutes Spike sighed and flicked off the top of his king. Sweetie was much more intense at the game then Twilight or Shining Armor ever was.

"You were pretty good, you play much?" Applebloom asked, she had finished her milkshake and was making a small tower out of the little creamer and milk containers that were at every table.

"Not really, Twilight and Shining Armor taught me the most. Never played back at the home."  
"Why not, beat too many folks?" Sweetie asked as she collected the game pieces before Applebloom added them to her tower.

"Yeah a bunch of violent teens who just loose in checkers to a kid...it gets pretty bad. We all learned it was a pretty big mistake." Spike left out the fact that the checkerboard had disappeared under mysterious circumstances one night.

"Losers." Scootaloo said beneath her breath before chugging the rest of her slushy chocolate milkshake, leaving behind a mustache. Applebloom chortled a little before taking out her phone and snapping a picture.  
"Hey do you guys want to go to go to the park? I want to climb a tree." Applebloom said suddenly, Spike was a little surprised but the others shrugged, already at ease with the girls zany change of pace.

"Sure, can we stop by my house first? I need to pick something up." Sweetie asked as she picked up her backpack. The others agreed and soon they were out the door and walking down the street.

Pinkie Pie hopped over to the table were the rest of her friends were already sitting, she sat down and grabbed Applejack's cup of cold cider and took a long sip without asking.  
"So what are we talking about?" She asked as she tore open some sugar packets and began to add them to the drink, she offered it back to Applejack who shook her head.

"Gossip, young love." Fluttershy replied.

"Twilight follow me quickly." Rarity stood up and pulled her surprised friend behind her out the door, to her waiting car and away.


	12. Chapter 12

Scootaloo and Applebloom were racing ahead down the sidewalk. Scootaloo held both of their backpacks in her lap, laughing while Applebloom pushed her as hard as she could. The two of them swerving around pedestrians. Sweetie Belle and Spike walked behind them, Spike had offered to carry her backpack out of concern. He was still a little worried that she would faint again.

She had accepted, her arms were folded behind her head as they walked down the sidewalk. She gasped when Applebloom and Scootaloo narrowly avoided knocking over a fruit display.

"Those two are hyperactive." Spike said looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Rambunctious is what I would call them." She said. "Thank you again for carrying me down to the nurses office."

"It was no trouble."

"Yeah but it meant a lot. Normally I would have to go with someone else or the teacher. Once the entire class trouped down there with me. It was super uncomfortable."

"I would think it would be more embarrassing than anything else."

"Well that too."

"And it wasn't like that when I brought you down?"

"Nope." She responded bluntly, he could almost hear the blood swirling up to his ears and he had to remind himself not to faint.

The Carousel Boutique was a large shop set into the side of a long line of stores. Applebloom held the door open for Scootaloo and then the others as they came up. Spike had mostly been in the front of the store where all of the clothing and changing rooms were. Normally to help out Rarity or when he went with Twilight Sparkle to pick up a few things. He had never been in the back of the store where the three girls were headed.

Spike lingered for a second at the front of the shop before he quickly followed not wanting to be caught with the alone among all of the dresses.

Behind the store front there was a kitchen and a set of stairs. Sitting at a table were Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, they were both sipping tea and watched Spike intently as he moved past them to follow the girls up the stairs.

Scootaloo looked after them for a second.

"I'll meet you guys out front." She shouted before turning around and wheeling out. Spike followed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle upstairs, he heard intense whispering once he left the room.

The narrow staircase lead to a larger upstairs floor, with a living room and a few bedrooms. Spike walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch. He noticed some dress designs out on the table.

The house was technically Rarities, as was the store. Her parents had bought it for her instead of a car for her birthday. She had transformed the place and actually moved in. From what he could gather it looked like Sweetie Belle lived there more often than at her actual home.

Spike shuffled through the pile of papers that were for future dresses, he stopped when he found a piece of cloth. It was red with a strange blue shield in the middle of it. He picked it up and turned it in his hands. It looked hand stitched, not expertly made by anyones standards.

"Hey Spike you ready to...oh jeez." Applebloom said as she walked into the room. Sweetie Belle stuck her head around the door jam.

"What is it?"

"He found the old cape."

"Oh jeez!" Sweetie quickly ran forward and pulled it out of his hands.  
"What is it?" He said standing up and reaching around her to try and snag it.  
"Nothing! Something stupid!"  
"Come on tell me."

"When we were younger we made this club thing once right? Called ourselves the Crusaders. Sweetie here made us all capes and we would run around town getting into other people's business. Made good nuisances out of ourselves." Applebloom took it out of Spikes hands and looked at it. "You really should have used a hemming stitch, this is a backstitch. Wonder where I put mine?" She said absentmindedly handing the piece of cloth over to Spike.

Sweetie grabbed for it, he simply put it over his head out of her reach. She jumped and lunged for it, he sighed and handed it over to her. She pouted before stuffing it into her pocket.

A crack came at the window. The three of them ran over and peered out of it. Sitting in front of the store was Scootaloo with a small pile of rocks in her lap, she picked up another one, pulled back her arm and let it fly. It hit the building to their right before falling back to earth. Spike opened the window to call down. Applebloom shoved herself out of it, her feet left the ground and she was holding on by her fingertips.

"What?!"

"Are we gonna climb that tree like you wanted or what?!" She called back.

"Yeah, yeah we're coming!" Applebloom pulled back inside and bounded out of the room and down the steps. Spike and Sweetie running after her.

Rarity and Twilight called out to them as they left. Before turning back to each other and sipping at the tea in their cups, their saucers held in the other hand and gave conspiring winks.

Spike somehow managed to dodge the mannequins and get outside before the others. He pulled up to a stop in front of Scootaloo, she looked him up and down appreciatively.

"Got some legs on you huh?"

"Well I don't like to brag or anything but." Spike grinned down at her, he appreciated it whenever someone stroked his ego a little bit, made him feel important.

"Good then don't. You get to brag once you pass me in gym class, deal?" Spike rolled his eyes, she would probably have an unfair advantage, with the way she moved in that wheelchair he was amazed that he was even able to keep up with her when walking.

"Fine, fine deal."

"Good now come on, I want to beat Applebloom up that tree."

Spike wasn't certain he had heard her right, but she didn't repeat herself or anything. All he could do was run after her and wait to see what was going to happen.


	13. Chapter 13

"I can scarcely believe it." Rarity exclaimed to Twilight as Spike went up the stairs after the girls. Scootaloo had rolled past the two of them and out the door.

"I couldn't believe it at first either, but what we saw at Sugar Cube Corner, and what Fluttershy told us I think just about cinched it."

"Still." Rarity said cautiously. "They do not act like a couple. And anyways they are a little bit young are they not?"

"Well would you announce to your sibling that you have a boyfriend...or girlfriend...or whatever it is that you have?"  
"An excellent point." Rarity replied taking another sip of her tea. The two of them had rushed to Rarities house after Twilight and Fluttershy had told everyone what they had seen during the day.

Fluttershy telling them all that Spike had carried Sweetie to the nurses office and sat, she claimed that he had appeared 'forlorn' and 'infatuated' That was when Twilight had announced that she had seen the two of them walking arm in arm earlier that day, she was not certain what time as she had not looked at a clock for over three and a half hours. Approximately.

Rarity was of course interested, what they were describing between the two sounded rather like a romance novel or something similar to the sort. So wanting to see what was going on and perhaps even speak privately as they were the older siblings to the two, Rarity and Twilight had followed them back to her house.

"So what do you think? Dating? Not Dating? You have a better eye for things like this." Rarity frowned and pondered for a little while. She sipped at her tea, cleared her throat, poured herself a little bit more and stirred in a little bit of sugar. Twilight slowly lost her patience.

"Well?"

"There is something there, but it needs a little 'shove' so to say in the proper direction." She winked at Twilight. Twilight stared blankly. She winked again.

"What is this?"

"I am insinuating that the two of us set the two of them up. Or find some way as to make them come together."

"Matchmaking huh? Doesn't that sound a little bit too much like meddling?"

"Oh Twilight, my dear little naive Twilight." Rarity reached across the table and patted her on the head much to her confusion. "So young and innocent."

"I'm a month younger than you."

"And Fluttershy is a year older than all of us, funny how things work like that isn't it?" Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Fine, if we're doing this we do it right. Nothing super weird like setting them up on dates or something okay? That crosses a line."

"Subtle little hints here and there that will eventually lead them to each other. As is the proper way."

Twilight laughed at her friends serious tone of voice. "I'm sorry but this entire thing seems ridiculous, and well-"

"Yes yes I am treating it like foreign espionage. My dear if you can overdo anything than you must do it with style. That's what I always say."

"I have never heard you say that before ever."

"I must have mentioned it to Rainbow Dash then."

There came a thumping down the stairs and the three teenagers rushed out of the house, calling goodbyes over their shoulders. Spike and Sweetie were laughing as they ran, the two girls eyes grew wide at the sight. They turned to each other and grinned.

"Okay so how are we going to bring them together than?" Twilight had a flash of inspiration. She reached into her backpack and quickly flipped to the right file she had in it. She pulled out a flyer and slammed it down in the middle of the table rattling the fine china.

"I'm supposed to be making copies of this, I'll need the other's help to pull it off. Are you in?" Rarity gazed down, tilted her head one way and then another. She smiled widely.

"Oh yes. This will do quite nicely."

 **Yeah I admit this entire thing is pretty much one quick jab at ships and pairing stories, whatever, thank you for the great reviews and keep them coming.**


	14. Chapter 14

Spike had never been to a park that was as well taken care of as this one. Large open spaces for running, enormous trees and lovely gazebos.

The girls were rushing off to a large tree set apart from the main picnic area. He walked behind them wondering what they would do next. It was exhausting keeping up with them. He felt vaguely tired, and it wasn't even five in the afternoon.

Scootaloo got to the tree and grinned up at it. She tried to push herself up with her arms but paused and sunk back down. She waited until Applebloom and Sweetie Belle got to her side. Spike watched wide eyed as they picked her up, one on each arm. Her legs dangling down an inch above the ground. The three of them stumbled around and Scootaloo flailed her arms upwards until she finally snagged a branch.

Her arm muscles not even looking strained she began to pull herself up into the tree. Hand over hand, her legs beneath her, she reached for one branch and then another and still another. She quickly made her way through the tree limbs until she was at a couple of branches that jutted out from the main trunk of the tree, she sat herself in-between them and grinned down.

Applebloom grinned back up before grabbing Sweetie Belle around the waist and hoisting her upwards. Sweetie squeaked and Spike felt a surge of heat in his hands and face. He wanted to be the one to help her up, he shook the thought away quickly. It wouldn't do to think something as creepy as that.

Sweetie moved slower that Scootaloo through the tree, occasionally stopping to test out the strength of a branch before putting any weight on it. She comes to rest beside Scootaloo, she looks out across the park and waves to Spike. He grins and starts trotting to the tree.

Applebloom looks the branches over before flinging herself up and climbing with reckless abandon. She swings out far from a branch and whoops.

"I love climbing!" She shouted in joy before hanging upside down. Spike got to the tree and looked around, he looked around before jumping and grabbing a branch, he swung one leg around and then another. He hugged the trunk and tried not to look down.

"Come on you dork. It's only like fifteen feet."

"Yeah and you can drown in like two inches of water, I'm pretty certain that this would break someones..."

"Legs?" Scootaloo said mockingly.

"Back! I was going to say back!"

"Sure you were."

"Come on Spike you have a great view up here!" Sweetie said grinning down at him, there was some green light breaking through the leaves and she was framed beautifully in the light. It reflected wonderfully off of her two tone hair.

Spike eventually got up and pulled his eyes away from the bark on the tree and out to the surrounding park. She was right, the view was fantastic. He could see most of the surrounding town and even the very top of the school. The suburbs that came into view just out of the main set of stores caught his eye.

"I can see the top of my house from here."

Applebloom swung over to his side and looked out. "Is it the one with the weird shaped chimney?"

"No...the other one, blue roof tiles?"

"Oh! Yeah I see it." Sweetie said pointing it out to the others.

"Sweet Apple Acres is in the other direction." Applebloom said looking behind herself. Spike got nervous, he kept looking at her hands to make sure that she had a firm grasp on the tree. Something suddenly caused him to think.

"Should you really be in a tree after fainting?" He asked Sweetie. She stopped and touched the tip of her finger to her chin, her eyes grew wide.

"Oh geez you're right." She started to go slowly down the tree, picking her way carefully. "My doctor would have a hissy fit if she knew that I was up here. If she had her way I would just sit around and eat chocolate bonbons all day to avoid any sort of stressors." She jumped demurely to the ground and brushed herself off, the tree leaving a little bit of sap on her hands.

She looked down and shrugged before sitting down in Scoot's wheelchair.

Spike looked out around the park, it really was an incredible view up there, he could see for miles.

Some loud mocking laughter drifted it's way through the air. He looked around and noticed a couple of girls walking towards where Sweetie Belle sat. Scootaloo and Applebloom had also noticed, they glowered down at where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making a beeline for the oblivious Sweetie Belle.

"Come on." Applebloom began to descend, Scootaloo scooted herself forward and began to drop down through the branches, grabbing one limb after another. Just as fast as Applebloom was going. Spike went slower and picked his way carefully.

He could see what the girls before he could make out any of their words. From the way Applebloom stood with her hands on her hips and the scowl on her face none of them were good.

Scootaloo was still in the lowest branches, glaring down at the two girls but not saying a word. Spike looked at her for a moment.

"I need help getting out of the tree without falling flat on my face okay?"

"Didn't say anything." Spike dangled and then dropped to the ground. Silver Spoon looked over at him in surprise before she turned her attention back to a quiet Sweetie Belle.

"I can't believe what I am hearing here, are you really that dumb spastic?" Diamond Tiara said in response to Applebloom, the country girls face was turning redder by the second and her fists were clenched. IT looked like she was planning to jump the pampered girl, he was debating whether or not to hold her back or join in.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Sweetie Belle spoke up quietly. She looked at the two girls, her eyes firm but wet.

"Because we can get away with it. And you deserve it. A cripple that can walk but is too lazy to, a hyperactive freak. And you, admit it, it's all for attention isn't it?" Diamond Tiara said with a smirk. Spike did get in-between the country girl and rich kid then as Applebloom lunged forward. Diamond Tiara grinned a little as if Applebloom was proving her point.

"I have a medical condition! It's in books!" Applebloom shouted at the girl. "What you have is just a jerky attitude! And that's incurable!"

"Maybe but I also have this, and this is on the internet, funny huh?" Silver Spoon held up one of those fancy touch screen phones that can get internet connection anywhere. On it was a video playing of Sweetie Belle falling over, her eyes rolling back and blood dribbling from her finger. It showed Spike holding her on the floor as she shook like a leaf.

"It already has over one hundred thousand views and two remakes." Silver Spoon pulled up another video with dub step and one with a rapped narrating over it. Sweetie Belle looked on in shock. Aplebloom and Scootaloo seethed silently.

Spike moved away from Applebloom, quickly snatched the phone out of Silver Spoons hands and threw it like a frisbee. It sailed around thirty feet before exploding against a tree.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. Spike looked Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in the eyes, the way that he used to be looked at back before he lived with Twilight's family.

"Walk away." He spoke calmly. "Now. Or else."

The two girls looked at him, looked at the silently crying Sweetie Belle and then at the other two crusaders who were cracking their knuckles and gathering a small armada of acorns. They turned a left.

"That was so cool dude." Scootaloo said quietly. He smiled at her, he felt confident, the adrenaline was racing, hard enough for him to turn and touch Sweetie's shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that. Are you okay?"

"No." She said, she rushed against his chest and hugged him hard.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks so much for the awesome reviews guys!**

That night, Spike relived something he would rather have forgotten. A boy, much taller, much stronger, was laughing at him.  
A burning sensation was running through his palm, but he couldn't jerk his hand away from the heat source. A flame was lit, coming from the older boy's hand. The small blaze flared up and the toothy grin and sunburnt face was illuminated, Spike could barely make out the towering spikes of the boy's Mohawk, red as the flame licking his hand.  
Spike could feel the heat falling away, but this brought no relief as his hand stayed glued above the flame, pulling him down through the floor, the cacophonous laughter echoing in his ears as he was dragged down, down, down. Further and further the light pulled him through the dark.  
Spike couldn't see, he couldn't hear. His face was screwed up in pain as the shrieking cackles of the older boys filled his ears. Suddenly the burning hot sensation became a tough tug, tearing up his arm, and as it cut through his hoodie, so did the tearing sound cut through the laughter.  
Everything was silent. Spike squinted up, he was surrounded in a circle of light on his knees on the floor. Through the dark room, another spotlight lit up a woman, tall and severe, she glared at him over the top of his glasses.  
Spike shivered despite the heat that kept burning him as if he had a fever.  
"You think this is funny?" The woman asked, stepping towards him, the sharp clack of her shoes against the floor hitting just as hard as the other boys had.  
"Burning things? Hurting people? Do you want attention?" The voices rang out through the dark, each accusing him, each pounding against his ears like waves on a rocky shore.  
Spike wanted to speak, he wanted to defend himself and explain, but no words came out of his choked throat, only fear.  
"I must assure you…" the woman said, coming to stand in the same circle of light as Spike, towering above him and glaring down at his broken body, "No one… is laughing."  
"No!" Spike shouted, jolting up in bed and flailing his arms wildly about in the dark, punching something hard and heavy. Spike flinched away as he heard the bedside lamp fall to the floor with a dull thunk.  
Spike paused for a second, breathing deeply to try and find his center, trembling slightly after his nightmare, still vivid in his mind. He still could see the faces, hear the words, and worst of all, Spike could feel the heat creeping along his body.  
Spike reached out in the dark, his eyes adjusting so he could find exactly what he was looking for without turning on the light now resting on the floor. The short object rested neatly in his palm and he gently turned it on.  
The lighter's dancing flame shot up on command and danced merrily before his eyes, reflecting the orange light in the deep darkness into the dark green depths of his eyes. Spike sighed and closed his eyes, shutting the gas flow for the flame, extinguishing it. He could still see the light on his eyelids, steadying him just as the door opened.  
"Spike?" Twilight's voice called out in a gentle whisper, "Are you ok?"  
"Um…" Spike put the lighter under his pillow and realized he didn't know what to say. Usually he would say that he was fine, and he would brush off any negative thought. But after the nightmare, he felt… vulnerable.  
"I heard you shout, and a thump, and…" Twilight had taken just a few steps into the room, her foot colliding with the lamp on the floor. "Oh, bad dream?" She asked, picking up the lamp and setting it back on his nightstand, turning it on.  
Spike blinked when the light came on, but quickly adjusted. He looked up at Twilight, his sister. That word still felt a little strange to him. Even if they weren't related by blood, Shining Armor and Twilight were his siblings and that meant that they were important to him. Maybe even more so, considering that they chose to be his family, not many get that choice.  
"I used to get nightmares too, you know…" Twilight said gently, taking a seat at the end of his bed, she chuckled lightly, even though it wasn't a laughing matter, "I still do some times. I remember this one that I would always have. I would be late to class and then it turned out there was a test I hadn't studied for, but it also turned out I had forgot to put on any pants!" Twilight shook her head, "Crazy, huh? How our brains try to scare us out of getting rested."  
Spike sometimes enjoyed the little rants Twilight would go on about things, it let him listen, he didn't need to talk, and that was one good thing about living under this roof, Spike didn't have to be something he wasn't. If he wanted to be quiet, or helpful, he could. If he wanted to school his new siblings in checkers, he could.  
"But you know what? After I made friends with Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack and Rarity and the others, I stopped having that nightmare."  
Spike looked up at that one, thinking of Twilight as scared of anything was strange enough, but beating it by making friends?  
"Of course, I think my brain realized that that didn't scare me anymore, so it gave me a new nightmare. But that one doesn't happen very often." Twilight smiled at Spike, raising a hand to run through his Mohawk, "Sorry, I'm babbling, you probably want to get some sleep, don't you?"  
Spike nodded without thinking, he was used to agreeing with people. He laid back with a yawn, only now feeling the exhaustion of the day and night and the lecture from Twilight wash over him, briefly he wondered about Twilight's new nightmare, but figured he would ask her in the morning.  
"Sleep tight, my little dragon," Twilight said, turning out the light for Spike and kissing his forehead before whispering into his ear, "Don't forget to dream of your princess."  
In Spike's dream, he was laughing in the shade of a great big tree in the park. Even bigger than the one they climbed today, and the light was a glittering gold as he laughed, watching as the Crusaders ran around in their blue capes.  
Scootaloo was chasing down Applebloom with her little squirt bottle. Spike looked up into the boughs of the branches above him to see Sweetie Belle way up in the tree, her arms open to the world and absorbing all the light and shooting it down, turning the boring old light into fresh golden beams that showered the park in all it's splendor.  
Spike smiled and stood, getting taken along by Applebloom, running faster than he ever had in his life, Scootaloo on his tail with water streaming for him. No fear, only invigoration and excitement. And when he did get sprayed, Applebloom laughed and slapped him on the back, forgetting that she was the one being hunted. And when she was sprayed, there was no rage or frustration, only goodwill and joy.  
Then Spike turned his attention to the tree, moving to join Sweetie Belle's melody among the leaves and dance in the golden light. As Spike made his ascent, the rest of the world fell away, and there was nothing but Spike and Sweetie Belle. The world was itself, and nothing has changed, but somehow, nothing else existed and there was only the beautiful world created by that girl singing in front of him. Spike wanted to congratulate her on her amazing work, but didn't want to interrupt it.  
So he sat. And he smiled. In the shade of that giant tree. Surrounded by golden light.


	16. Chapter 16

The weeks passed and before they knew it the first half of the Autumn Semester had passed, Spike mostly hung around the Crusaders. He enjoyed their company the most, also he seemed to be around Twilight and her group of friends a lot too. Somehow he missed the looks that the older girls would send each other over the heads of the smaller class men, with knowing smiles and grins.

Finally Rarity, Twilight and an invested Fluttershy decided it was time to put their plan into action.

Twilight was reading the newspaper when Spike finally came downstairs. He poured himself some cereal and milk and started eating. He fished the comics out from the newspaper and started reading.

Twilight looked up and down, trying to keep a smile off of her face. He remained oblivious. Twilight placed a flyer onto the table and pushed it towards him. Spike continued crunching on his cereal.

Twilight frowned before pushing it closer, an edge almost rested in his cereal bowl. Spike finally looked up, he raised an eyebrow. Twilight knew she had his attention, now all she needed to do was hook him in.

"Want to know what I love about High School Spike?" He shook his head. "The extracurricular activities, the football games, the Freshman Faire, the Dances! Oh the dances are spectacular!" Spike looked down at the flyer. It advertised the first dance of the semester, it was in just a couple of weeks, it was on fancy thick purple paper. The school crest of a stallion was on the top surrounded by fancy calligraphy and a couple in silhouette dancing.

"This one is actually coming up pretty soon."

Spike picked it up and studied it, the dance was free but refreshments (Served by Sugar cube Corner he noticed) Were about five dollars. It was formal attire, suggested. He didn't think he owned anything like that. He chewed reflectively looking down at it.

Spike had a brief daydream, of him and Sweetie Belle on the front. Both in beautiful clothing, a flowing gown for her and a dapper top hat for him. Spinning to a slow song. Yeah...yeah that could be pretty nice.

"Looks pretty cool." He said taking the last bite of his sugary cereal. He cleared Twilight's plate without having to be asked, washed and put them to dry. "How long did it take you to plan all of this? It looks pretty difficult."

"Nothing that three days of no sleep and nonstop organization couldn't take care of!" Twilight laughed a little uncomfortably for a few seconds as Spike looked down at the flyer.

Twilight studied him, a clench in his jaw there, the tapping of his chin then, she could read him like a book. He was thinking about if he should go, the way that he ran his fingers through his hair drove the point that he wanted to be neat on a subconscious level, and the reason would be to talk to the cleanest friend that he had.

When she said it like that it sounded bad, but it was true. Sweetie Belle was probably the Crusader who spent the most time on her looks.

Spike came to a decision and folded the picture up and stuffed it into his back pocket.

"Thanks Twilight, this actually looks great, I would love to go to it." He smiled at her and she returned the grin. The gears began to turn in her head, he would be walking to school early with her, help her out with a couple of tiny errands and then run off to find the girls. If Rarity had followed through with her part of the plan than Sweetie Belle would be at school before any of the others and they would have a few moments to talk in private.

Twilight was positive that this would work.

Was it sleazy? Maybe a little, but if he ever found out he would probably thank her for it. She was just looking out for her little brothers best interest's.

"Ready to roll out?" She asked him, Spike grinned and ran over to the pile of supplies that she would need for the day. Since she was working with multiple different teachers and students it only made sense that she carry around a lot of things with her. Spike collected the pile up and staggered out the door with it. While he would wobble a little and waddled most of the way to school he kept his balance and carried all of the materials easily.

To say Twilight was mildly impressed would be an understatement, Spike was surprisingly strong for his age. He let the pile down slowly onto the classroom floor. He looked at it and wiped his brow.

"Sure you'll be able to carry all of this stuff for the rest of the day Twi?"

"Positive, thank you Spike." He shrugged, taking her word for it before walking off in search for the girls. Twilight watched him until he turned a corner down the hall, she quickly whipped out her phone and texted Rarity his movements.

Rarity checked her phone, the slight buzzing alerted her. She looked down, looked around the school hallway and then grabbed Sweetie Belle firmly by the hand.

"Follow me. Quickly."

"But Rarity it's earrrllllllyyyyy!" Sweetie whined rubbing her eyes, her sister had woken her up close to an hour and a half earlier than usual and insisted that they go to the High School with as much haste as possible. Sweetie was tired, cranky and for the first time in her life understood why her older sister drank coffee with such gusto.

Rarity looked around the hallway before she spotted a bench, it was right by a new poster that was up. Sweetie was too tired to bother reading it.

"Just sit there and act ladylike, I will collect you shortly." With that Rarity disappeared into a classroom and closed the door. Sweetie looked after her before leaning her head back against the cool walls. She started to hum a song she had made up in her head earlier that day, trying to put notes and words down to the tune.

"Sweetie?" She popped her eyes open and looked down the hallway. Walking toward her was a just as exhausted looking Spike. She grinned at him.

"Hey. What are you doing here so early?"

"Twilight needed help with something, this is actually the normal time for me to come in." He yawned loudly. He blushed and looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry I am getting spoiled by all of the sleep that I get at home." Sweetie laughed and yawned herself.

"It's okay I know the feeling." Her eyes felt heavy, pleasantly heavy. She slowly began to lean to the side, she rested her head against Spikes shoulder, it felt a little bony, not much meat on the kid.

"I think I might...just..." She slowly drifted off to sleep, she felt his head slowly lean over and rest on her's. By his breathing she could tell he was asleep too.

Scootaloo and Applebloom found the two of them snoring softly just before first bell rang. They of course took this opportunity to draw on their faces with permanent marker.

 **Whoo! Someone should make a drawing of that scene! Adorable I must say. If I owned MY little Pony Friendship is magic there would be a lot of differences, but I do not and that makes me sad. Reviews make me happy though! So leave a few of those in the comment section!**


	17. Chapter 17

"You guys are real jerks you know that right?" Sweetie said as she scrubbed at her face in the girls bathroom. She had been at it for about half an hour and the marker was just now starting to come on.

"We saw an opportunity and we exploited it, we can't be blamed." Scootaloo said as she rolled over with some more paper towels. Sweetie Belle took them without comment and began to wipe her face dry, there was still some leftover marks but she had gotten most of it off. It just looked like she had some of those henna tattoos that Zecora sold at her shop.

"Just be glad I was the one who drew on ya and not her." Applebloom smirked, Sweetie Belle was at least thankful that Scootaloo hadn't written dork in bright red letters across her forehead like she had done with Spike, or drew a mustache or glasses. She was especially glad that she had those to to rant to, Spike just had the boys room to clean up in.

Scootaloo looked at her watch before she wheeled herself out of the room.

"I'll see you two at lunch, it's almost second period." Sweetie quickly wiped at her face one more time before she hurried off.

Scootaloo got to the gym to get changed, Spike was waiting for her, somehow he had gotten most of the marker off. The red just made him look like he had a sunburn and the glasses were mere smudges. He still had the mustache though. She pointed it out once she came inside.

"I like to think it makes me look older, more refined you could say." Scootaloo rolled her eyes in response. She rolled over to the door leading to the girls changing room. She got in and quickly got ready.

Mocking laughter floated to her, she recognized the source. She had been dealing with the two of them since middle school, they still had not seem to grasp the concept that they were the only ones who thought that they were funny.

"Well well well, look who just so happen to roll in." Diamond Tiara said leaning one of her manicured hands on the handle to Scootaloo's wheelchair.

"Didn't your dad buy you a chair like this for your brand new desk Diamond Tiara?" Silver Spoon said on the other side.

"No he got me one that lets you move with a controller, in case I ever get too tired walking to the desk. It is quite a ways a way." She responded. Scootaloo jerked herself back roughly and started moving her chair towards the door. The two bullies however were not done yet. They stood in her way, their legs blocking her wheels.

"You wouldn't know about having to go very far though would you?"

"What are you even trying to insult me about?" Scootaloo said, her patience running out. She could take the obnoxious duo trying to make her feel bad, but she at least wanted them to put some effort into coming up with good insults. She would spend hours every night coming up with some of her own instead of sleeping.

"I'm just pointing out that you have a pretty good set up, pretending that you can't walk." Scootaloo's eye twitched in anger, the two of them really couldn't be that stupid could they?She took a deep breath to calm herself.

Dinky walked past the three of them, gave a worried look before running towards her locker to change. Diamond Tiara watched her for a moment before turning to Silver Spoon.

"Remind me to remind her how her sister needs to work for the post office and hangs around with that scarf wearing freak." Silver Spoon started typing down on her phone.

"Reminder, Dinky, Sister, No friends, Freak."

"Okay, seriously what is it that you two don't get about this? I can physically not move from this seat without help." Scootaloo said, her teeth gritted and she ground out every syllable.

"HA! False! I saw you, with the lesbian, you were totally walking while she watched."

"Which lesbian? There are like eighty lesbians in this school!"

"The one who helps Biceps." Scootaloo's face drained of color, her big toe twitched, she did not feel it though.

"You mean Rainbow Dash?" Her heart beat hard in her chest. They had seen, when? They knew, who else knew?

"Yeah, aren't you in love with her or something? Cause spoiler? I'm pretty sure she has more taste than a crippled liar." Scootaloo felt the heat rush up her neck and settle in her cheeks, the shame, the sheer amount of humiliation that the girl had caused her, she just couldn't take it. Scootaloo's fist swung out and hit the pampered girl on the ear. She yowled and jumped back, Silver Spoon dropped her phone in surprise and Scootaloo, who was closer to the ground swooped down and picked it up. With a flick of her wrist it went flying and landed with a crack against a wall.

"AGAIN!?" Silver Spoon shouted in anger running to get her phone, Scootaloo quickly opened up the water bottle and upended it on the floor, making sure to wet the bottom of Diamond Tiara's sneakers. She quickly rolled around the girl and started for the doorway.

She slammed into the swinging door and pushed her wheels as hard as she could.

"RAINBOW DASH!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. The athletic girl was talking to Spike and a small group of other students. She turned once she heard the yell.

"THE FLOOR WAS WET AND DIAMOND TIARA SLIPPED AND HIT HER HEAD!" Scootaloo shouted across the gym. Rainbow Dash was over in a heartbeat, in the room in two and back out with the radio to her lips calling for Bulk Biceps to get the nurse.

Spike trotted over to where Scootaloo sat watching, Diamond Tiara walked out, fine except for a very red ear. Silver Spoon beside her ranting about how her expensive new phone was broken. He saw how red Scootaloo's knuckles were, especially how hard she clenched them.

He looked down concerned, she looked back up and grinned.

"Wet tile, it gets pretty slippery."

"Yeah I know." He said softly in response.


	18. Chapter 18

Spike joined the girls at their typical lunch table. Scootaloo had just finished whispering something to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle that caused Applebloom to laugh out loud and for Sweetie to turn very very pale.

"You kinda missed some." Applebloom looked up and motioned around her nose and lip when Spike sat down.

"Yeah I left the mustache there, thought it made me look good." Applebloom studied it for a little while before she shrugged and chugged down half of her juice box.

Spike felt a little tingle at the back of his neck, he looked behind himself and checked out the rest of the lunchroom. Twilight and her six friends were all around a table by the windows. It looked like they were in a heated discussion about something, Pinkie Pie was scrambling around the table and picking up a bunch of binoculars and shoving them into a book back.

Applejack noticed that he was looking their way, she nudged Twilight who looked over and blushed before she gave a little wave. He returned it mildly confused at her actions. Sure Twilight could be weird at times but she was acting really funky today.

She had told him something earlier this morning hadn't she? What was it? He had been half asleep but he knew that it was probably important...what was it?

He looked down at the lunch he had packed for himself, he started to chew on a corner of his sandwich thoughtfully. Nothing was coming to mind, but he felt like it was one of the biggest and best ideas of his life...now if he could just...get ahold of it.

"So have you guys heard about the dance?" Sweetie Belle piped up, Spike snapped back to attention. That was what he had thought about! The dance! It was coming up pretty soon; yeah he wanted to go to it.

"Yeah I heard, Twilight told me. She really hyped it up." He said trying to sound nonchalant about the entire thing. Scootaloo listened on in interest and Applebloom had pulled out her stress ball, it was her bast way of giving him her undivided attention.

"It sounds sort of cool, I think I might go." Sweetie Belle's face seemed to brighten up the moment that he said that.

"I would love to go! I've always wanted to go to a high school dance, ever since I was a little girl!" Her eyes got a far away look in them and starry-eyed as if she were envisioning a elegant ballroom hidden somewhere in the high school.

"Ya'll know it's not like a prom or anything right? From what Big Mac and Applejack told me it ain't as impressive as you would think."Sweetie frowned at her friend and stuck her tongue out before pouting.

"Don't rain on my fantasy. I still want to go."

"We should go then." Spike said suddenly, he felt his face flush slightly, he remembered his fantasy that morning, him and Sweetie Belle twirling softly in circles in on some kind of dance floor. Sure it was cliche but he wanted to do it. He didn't even think for a second about how he had no idea how to dance, he was just fixated on his fantasy.

"Well I did hear that Twilight Sparkle is organizing it." Scootaloo said with a mouthful of food. She swallowed and drank some of her milk, leaving a little brown mustache across her upper lip. "So it should be much cooler than what they normally would do."

"Yeah, the establishment have no idea how to throw a decent shindig. Twilight is around our age, she should have a little bit of a clue." Applebloom took a huge bite of her apple crumble. Sweetie looked at her friends and rolled her eyes at their messy eating habits. She reached across the table and grabbed some conveniently placed napkins, she handed them to the two of them.

"Don't be gross." Scootaloo rolled her eyes but she wiped the mustache off and Applebloom took a few smaller bites of her meal.

"So are you guys in?" Everyone nodded their confirmation. Spike sat back and thought for a moment, he could try to get some one on one time with Sweetie Belle while at the dance, maybe get a couple of songs in. Yeah that would be nice. Have a sort of fake date to see how it felt. That would be nice.

Spike finished off his sandwich, visions of the dance still twirling through his head.

A loud annoyed voice cleared it's throat behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon standing behind him Diamond Tiara had a large red blotch on the side of her face from where she had fallen. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom all had scowls on their faces. They glowered at the girls for a few seconds.

"Ya'll gonna stand there all day or make your point?" Applebloom said icily.

"I'm going to get you weirdos back, maybe not tomorrow, heck maybe even not next week. But soon. Soon. You mark my words my little creeps."

"Who even talks like that?" Spike said, he looked up at her. She was uncomfortably close so he had to crane his neck back and his eyelids widened making him look vulnerable.

"Listen just lay off so that we can enjoy our lunch before next class okay?" Diamond Tiara looked at him with loathing and disgust.

"And to think I had high hopes for you, looks like you're stuck as their tag along forever now." She looked at the girls again dismissing Spike. "He actually rounds your group out more...now you have the token minority." She turned around Silver Spoon looked over her shoulder as they sauntered away.

"Tata Lameos. Cripple, Spaz, Hick, Indian." She spat the last word out, Spike took a calm breath, rash actions didn't get you anywhere. He told him this as he grabbed the remainders of his sandwich, turned and whipped it at the back of Silver Spoons head.

It hit dead center. The mustard stained her hair and went flying off to hit some of Diamond Tiara's expensive looking jacket. The lunchroom was silent for twenty seconds.

That was until Pinkie Pie and Applebloom jumped onto their tables.

"FOOD FIGHT!"


	19. Chapter 19

Twilight walked into the lunchroom, her backpack banging on her back and her book bag slapping against her thigh. She had way too much stuff to carry around, it weighed her down and she had to plan a route from one place to another before she went anywhere.

She zigzagged her way through the crowded lunchroom and plopped down at the table where her closest group of friends where already seated. She spied around the lunchroom and saw Spike sitting with some of his friends. They were talking about something but because of the amount of people in the room she could not hear a thing.

She felt a nudge and looked over to Fluttershy who was politely holding out a pair of binoculars.

"What are these for?" She asked taking them confused and mildly concerned.

" Pinkie brought us spy things." She said smiling. Twilight rolled her eyes and looked through the field glasses, they had some pretty good range. She was able to see out the window and all the way across the street with them.

A pair of bright cyan eyes were looking down the other end at her, they were magnified to gigantic size.

"Don't you four think you are taking this a little far?" Sunset Shimmer said crossing her arms, Twilight lowered the binoculars sheepishly and grinned. Rainbow Dash and Applejack along with Sunset Shimmer had told the other's that they wanted no part in their matchmaking game.

Twilight couldn't blame her, if this happened to anyone else she would have encouraged them to stay out of it. However this time had to be an exception...it was Spike they were talking about! And on top of that Sweetie Belle! Fluttershy was roped in by the way that Rarity described it, and Pinkie Pie was just excited to watch it all unfold. To her it was a little bit like a soap opera.

"Maybe a little." Twilight admitted not making eye contact and blushing. She shook her head and turned her eyes back to Spike's table. He seemed to stiffen and then looked up and around. He looked around the room and his eyes stopped on their table.

"He spotted us." Fluttershy whispered out and dropped her binoculars with a clang. Twilight quickly looked away and out the window as if she were uninterested. A nudge from Applejack and she looked up, Spike was looking right at her with a questioning look on his face. She smiled and gave a timid wave. He returned it. Her view was cut off form Pinkie Pie who quickly swept up the remainders of the binoculars and deposited them into her backpack.

"Well that could have been a disaster." Rarity said wiping some sweat from her brow.

"Yeah could have been." Rainbow Dash said sarcastically before she picked up her dessert and started eating.

"That just ads to the excitement of it! Imagine the surprise on their faces once their a couple!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. Rarity was squinting her own eyes at the table cocking her head one way and then another.

"Um Rarity? What are you doing?" Applejack asked waving her hand in front of her friends face.

"I am attempting to read their lips, but it is much easier in the novels and television." Pinkie Pie snorted with laughter before reaching into her bag.

"You don't need to read their lips silly! I brought this along!" She pulled out what looked like a futuristic satellite dish, the kind that police officers used to listen in on conversations. She adjusted a dial and pointed it in the general direction of Spikes Table.

"How does all of that stuff even fit in there?" Sunset Shimmer asked. Applejack's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"This is just plum crazy! You are spying on and listening in on your younger siblings conversations! It is just down right despicable! I want no part in this." She crossed her arms and turned her back on the table her nose in the air. Huffing in righteous indignation.

Rainbow Dash leaned forward, suddenly interested.

"You owned something like this for how long?"

"My entire life now ssssshhhh!"

"If anyone passed by this would look so weird." Sunset said laying her head on the table, her fiery red hair touching Twilight's wrist, she looked down at the tickle and felt a tingle shoot through her.

"I agree with Sunset on this one, we wouldn't just be the gay table we would be the weird gay table." Rainbow Dash said sitting backwards. She picked up her sandwich and bit into it. Everyone at the table paused for a moment at the blunt words. Fluttershy blushed deeply and Rarity waved her hand in front of her face. Twilight scratched the back of her head and didn't make any eye contact with anyone.

It was not like they were keeping it a secret or anything but the group had never been very vocal about their sexualities. Except for Rarity who seemed to love boys and girls in equal measures. Rainbow Dash kept munching on her sandwich unaware of the uncomfortable atmosphere that had descended on the table.

"You do know I'm not gay right?" Pinkie said while still fiddling with her head set. The group sat for a moment in silence, but they all turned to look at her mildly interested now. Rainbow Dash just waved her off.

"Sure you are." Pinkie looked toward her friends questioningly. The looks of shocked curiosity on it told her all that she needed to know. She put down the machine and looked at them all in surprise.

"Wait wait wait. Hold on a minute here. Do all of you seriously think that I'm a lesbian?" She said her face equal parts annoyed and surprised. A brief moment of uncomfortable silence followed.

"Wellll." Applejack started to say.

"OH COME ON!" Pinkie cut her off and stood up slamming the table with her palms.

"Volume Pinkie." Twilight chastised her friend.

"I have a boyfriend!" She whispered aggressively. Rainbow Dash merely rolled her eyes at that.

"Yeah sure you do. Does he live in Canada by any chance?" The other five shot Rainbow dirty looks, there was no need to be so mocking about it.

"You all have met him! He Just travels a ton!"

"Yeah sure." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "What's his name?" Pinkie stood up straight her eyes drifted quickly all over the table before finally landing on a simple sandwich that Fluttershy had packed.

"Cheese Sandwich." She said confidently and proudly. Rainbow Dash looked down at the food and back up.

"Oh now, come on!"

A sudden splat and silence descended upon the cafeteria. Everyone looked to the center of the room and saw a freshman named Silver Spoon standing stock still. Her hair had some meat and bread in it and mustard dribbled off of the side of her ear.

Twilight quickly measured the velocity, vector and direction. She looked back towards Spike's table. Her expression aghast. Spike had a little bit of mustard on his hand and his sandwich was missing. He was standing up and taking deep calming breathes.

Pinkie Pie glad for the distraction quickly picked up Applejacks slice of pie and Rarity's salad. She stood up on the table, Applebloom copying her from across the room.

"FOOD FIGHT!"


	20. Chapter 20

**Haha, does anyone even read this story anymore?**

It was a little cold outside. So he pulled on his favorite purple sweatshirt. Spike quickly and quietly slipped on his sneakers. He didn't want anyone to hear him leave. Luckily it was so late that he doubted anyone would even be up.

He felt a little sleazy doing this but he wanted to make sure that they were on the same page. Maybe it was just because he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he was getting accustomed to, he felt tired and anxious.

Spike went to the window and slid it open. He moved out onto the roof and inched his way to the end, he laid down on his stomach and put one foot and then another out, he wheeled it around until he finally found the railing. He placed one foot and then another on before easing his weight down.

Spike began to descend only to pause when he heard the creaking of wood beside him.

Spike looked to the left into some blue eyes and a mane of red hair.

Sunset Shimmer paused and looked at him uncomfortably for a few beats.

"Hi." Spike whispered quietly. The older girl looked at him for a few seconds before nodding.

"Hello."

"So uhhh, what are you doing here?"

"I came over to see Twilight. What are you doing here?"

"I live here." He responded.

"On the roof?" Sunset smirked, he blushed and looked down.

"Alright I'm sneaking out. Please don't tell anyone that I'm gone?" He pleaded, he would have gotten down onto his hands and knees if he weren't balancing. The girl bit her lower lip before nodding.

"Deal as long as you swear not to tell anyone that I was here. Okay?"

"Deal" He responded holding out his hand, she shook it before pulling herself up. Spike dropped to the ground and watched as her legs shimmied up and over the lip of the roof. Spike waited a moment and then started walking down.

The streets were well lit but empty at this time of night. He always assumed that the lights would turn off at some point. But not here apparently.

The food fight at school had gotten so out of control that no one was sure who had started it, he had gotten beaned by some mashed potatoes, had a ripe apple flung on his leg and a spoon full of tapioca pudding had left a stain on his shirt. Applebloom and Scootaloo who had not seemed cover got some of the worst hits from pizza, meatloaf and assorted vegetables.

Sweetie Belle had dove under a table but even she got ice cream on her clean looking dress. The punishment was for everyone to stay after and clean up, luckily Twilight and Principal Celestia had restored order before anything was damaged. Spike didn't like the looks that Twilight occasionally had thrown his way when he was on his knees scrubbing at the floor.

But he hadn't gotten into anymore trouble and he had escaped relatively unharmed. Spike stopped in front of the Boutique, he needed to be quiet here. He didn't want to wake up Rarity, he began to question why he was even doing this. Then again he knew Sweetie Belle, she seemed to like grand romantic gestures, and if this wasn't one than Spike wasn't sure what was.

He picked up some gravel and walked cautiously down an alleyway. He stood below her window and flung up the handful of debris. IT clattered against her window. He waited a second and then heard the pattering of little feet coming to the window.

Sweetie Belle looked out it. She was in some sort of fancy night robe, Spike didn't know what you would call it. It was white with pink and purple flowers across the seams and sewn into ascetically pleasing parts of the gown. She looked out and rubbed her eyes. She brightened up when she saw who it was outside.

Sliding the window open she leaned out. Her hands on the sill, a little breeze sprung up and danced across her face and played with her hair. Spike felt his heart thump loudly in his chest. She looked like a princess in a fairy tale.

"Spike!" She called down quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"I uh-"He cleared his throat, his voice sounded squeaky and childish. He suddenly felt that sneaking out of his house at one in the morning on a school night wasn't necessarily the best idea.

"I wanted to talk to you. And well I don't have your cell number or anything." He called up. She gave a little laugh. Spike's courage soared and he ran to the side of the wall, he grabbed a hold of a drainpipe and quickly scaled the side. He was huffing and puffing by the time he got to the top but he managed it quickly.

She looked impressed and clapped appreciatively.

"What did you want- yawn- to talk about?" She said covering her mouth and looking at him. She was till half asleep by the looks of things. Spike had the overwhelming desire to lean forward and either kiss or hug her. He bit his lip and instead spoke.

"It's just...well...do you want to go to the dance? Together?"

With it out he waited holding his breath. Sweetie smiled at him and he was about ready to die not he spot from anticipation.

"Of course we're going together silly. All four of us, we talked about it this afternoon."

Spike felt his heart seize up and was ready for the cold comfort of death to embrace him. She clearly thought differently from him. She clearly had something else on her mind. He didn't blame her. She was beautiful, and talented, smart, a delicate princess. And him? Well...

Spike was him, a weirdo who had a mohawk and got excited around fires.

He forced a smile and nodded.

"Oh yeah right. Duh." He slapped his forehead with his palm. She smiled sleepily at him.

"You silly billy. I'm sorry that it isn't earlier or else I would invite you in but-" She yawned again, Spike couldn't help but think how adorable she looked right then.

"Yeah sorry. Just double checking. Have a good rest." He smiled, she returned it.

"Goodnight Spikey Wikey." She said affectionately. He slid down the pipe and she watched as he walked to the end of the alley. He turned and waved, she returned it.

Sweetie closed the window turned around and promptly fell into bed fast asleep. She did not hear Spike curse loudly and punch a trashcan and mutter incoherently to himself, in an attempt to let out his disappointment and frustration.

"Hey" Twilight said as she helped Sunset into her bedroom. "Did you get here safely? See anyone?" Sunset thought about her friends little brother. She smiled,

"Nope."

 **So, um, yeah, leave a review and stuff. Thanks a bundle!**


	21. Chapter 21

He could only lean back and look around the dressing room.

It was in complete and utter chaos. Spike ducked as Twilight threw the eightieth dress that she refused to wear out of the changing room and onto the growing pile of other discards.

Spike went about picking up, pretty easy considering how many people were in Rarity's house.

Twilight and her six friends, the crusaders and him. Everyone running around, shouting, occasionally shoving, being measured and squabbling.

He was lucky enough, simple button down and slacks with a purple boutonnière to look gentlemanly and a top hat to look awesome. Spike had found everything that he needed within a half hour. It was everyone else in the room that was crazy.

Applebloom was bouncing around the room behind Pinkie Pie, both of them were distributing treats to semi distracted girls. Sweetie Belle was shifting through a large pile of two tone dresses and comparing a long tangle of jewelry on her arm with the fabric. Scootaloo had backed into a corner and was lounging trying to look as cool as possible.

Rainbow Dash was struggling with Fluttershy who kept insisting that she do the other girls hair and makeup, in preparation as she called it.

The dance was still a week and a half away and they were already freaking out about it.

Spike hung up the dresses back onto the shelves in the order that they had come down and then rearranged the pile of bracelets and necklaces that Rarity had dug out for them to test out.

Most of the girls would have just gone simple, but Rarity had insisted that they all look their best and try to be as dapper as possible. She had dragged both groups back to her house the moment school had let up and pushed them to find something that was elaborate, beautiful, and in her own words 'Spoke' to them.

Fluttershy had almost had a panic attack when she was pushed to find something and they had to spend quiet a bit of time just calming her down.

"Sit down and calm down Missy!" Applejack shouted as she grabbed Applebloom from around the shoulders and physically pushed her into a chair. The younger girl looked hopped up on sugar, she vibrated softly in the chair before pulling out her stress ball and squeezing it.

"Alright Bloom look around and tell us what it is exactly that you want." Applebloom seemed to pull herself together, her eyes began to wander towards the window and outdoor traffic before she pulled herself back to the room. She took a deep breath.

"WellIwasthinkingthatmaybeIcouldgetsomestreamers-" Applejack covered her little sisters mouth who let out a few muffled squeals and words until she looked into Applejacks face. The country girl took a deep breath, then another and brought her hand upwards. Applebloom copied her, her nose whistling. She squeezed her stress ball slower and slower finally she seemed to have calmed down.

Applejack brought her hand away. Applebloom closed her eyes and took one more deep breath.

"I think that I would like one that has some yellow and ah hint ah pink." Applejack nodded slowly agreeing with her sister. She had calmed her down enough to get that out of her. Applebloom seemed to bolt from her seat once it was decided and quickly zoomed around the room her new target in mind for her outfit.

Rainbow Dash slid over and sat next to where Scootaloo was with her dress across her lap, it was a dark shade of purple and matched her hair.

"Not bad." She said appreciatively.

"Thanks." She said grinning, "What are you wearing?"Rainbow Dash waved at the air unconcerned.

"Eh. I'll let Rarity or Pinkie or Flutter's find me something neat, they know my taste and this is too much of a hassle." Scootaloo laughed a little. Rainbow Dash looked down and then unceremoniously picked up one of the girls stick thin legs. She balanced it on the palm of her hand.

Scootaloo could only sit there, her face red and looking at the ceiling as if in prayer.

"You've been doing the work outs right?"

"Yes Rainbow Dash." She said clutching at the hem of her skirt.

"Every day? They aren't something that you can put off squirt." Scootaloo's eyes hardened and she looked Rainbow in the eye.

"Of course! I'm an expert at them!" Rainbow seemed to take that at face value. She looked at Scoot's dress again.

"It is really pretty, you're gonna look great in it."

"Hey! Twilight!" Sunset called into the changing room. Twilight poked her head out, she had the dress on backwards and was wrestling to untangle her hair from a zipper. She growled and frowned as she ripped out a few strands.

"What's up Sunset?" She asked, the girl grinned and opened her palm to her friend. Nestled inside were a couple of earrings, the actual stone was a bright vibrant red made with a glorious golden loop, it had smaller purple stones on top that seemed to fold and create a creasing on them.

"Those are beautiful!" Twilight gasped out as she took one in her hand. Sunset grinned happily.

"Put them on I want to see how they look!" Twilight quickly complied, flipping her hair over her shoulder and fiddling around with her lobe until she proudly displayed the piece of rock.

"Well? How do I look?" She asked proudly. Spike looked over from where he had finished hanging up dresses.

"Is there a difference?" He asked nonchalantly. Twilight rolled her eyes at his bluntness.

"Spike, now that is no way to talk to a lady, your sister or otherwise." Rarity chastised him as she entered from where she had been helping Sweetie Belle.

"I only meant that she already looks pretty enough without the earrings!" Spike said quickly in hopes of saving his hide. Rarity and Twilight gave little smiles at that and they could hear Pinkie's "AWWWW" from across the room.

"And now presenting the most glorious, one of a kind Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried in delight ready to show off the glorious ensemble that she had prepared specially for her little sister.

Sweetie Belle walked out confidently, she was secure in how amazing she looked. Her dress was white with purple and pink scarves sewn in that caused it to billow as she walked, it had a small bow at the back. Her make up was a small sheen of lipgloss and some sparkling glitter across the bridge of her nose, Rarity had just pulled her hair up into a loose bun for the moment.

Everyone stared at the first person in their finished outfit. The older girls eyes all turned expectantly towards Spike for him to give the first word. Twilight and the others wouldn't admit it but this was mostly for the young mans benefit, they wanted to see how he would possibly react.

Spike just stood stunned, watching as the girl who he had always suspected to be a princess just had the outfit to confirm it.

"Well Spike?" Prodded Rarity "How does she look?"

"Gorgeous." He breathed out.


	22. Chapter 22

**My midterms start tomorrow, yay me! So if I don't post as often that week, it's because of that. Also, musical rehearsal is killing me on top of my assignments. If y'all could just wish me luck, that'd be awesome! Thanks!**

Scootaloo rolled herself into the gymnasium. Her work out bag laid across her legs, she looked around at the different people getting checked around the hospital gymnasium.

She recognized a relative of Dinky's who was being chastised because she had not been wearing her eye patch and her eyes had gotten even more wonky. Someone else in a wheelchair was doing laps around an indoor track, and a few more small sickly looking kids who were being put through their own personal work out routine.

"Yo Scoots!" The wheelchair bound girl grinned. Rainbow Dash came jogging over to her, she was wearing a modified candy striper uniform. Her's was made more for working out, with running shorts and a looser tshirt.

"So ready today?"

"You know it!" The girl said excitedly, maybe a little bit too loudly with how some people looked and stared. She didn't care, this was one of the best times of her week when it was just her and Rainbow, it might just be business but still it always made her feel good inside.

Rainbow Dash frowned at the bag across the girls legs.

"You didn't roll all the way here like that right?"

"No, no I walked over with Applebloom and she carried it for me." Rainbow grinned knowingly at Scootaloo who could only blush and squirm a little in her seat.

"So are we going to do this or what?" The anxious teen said, Rainbow Dash crossed her arms.  
"You know the drill." Scootaloo rolled her eyes in annoyance but consented to being picked up effortlessly by the bigger girl. Rainbow moved her to the ground and started to bend and turn Scoot's legs, one way and then another.

"Any pain?"

"No."

"Movement?"

"A little actually." Rainbow looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Now that's different."

"Not much, just a toe twitch and I can sort of clench my big toe. Watch." Scootaloo screwed up her face and clenched her jaw, her tongue wriggled out and her lower back tightened up. Her big toe on her left foot seemed to curl up a little at the tip before it relaxed and went back to being a hunk of bone and gristle that did nothing.

"Not bad." She spoke appreciatively and took a few notes on her phone. "When do you think it started?" Scootaloo looked up, her head had fallen back onto the floor, she licked her lips.

"About two weeks ago, at school." Rainbow finished checking out Scootaloo's legs before she nodded and stood up.

"Okay let's see how far you've come." Scootaloo nodded and quickly got back into her wheelchair. She rolled it over to where they had the two bars suspended. She looked at them, she bit her lips and then she pulled herself up and grabbed a hold of them both.

She felt a little woozy, not usually having her head and legs dangling at the same time. She cracked her neck and moved one arm forward and then the other. Her legs dragging behind her.

"Come on! Lift that leg! Move it! I know you can do it Scoots!" Rainbow Dash said loudly. Scootaloo would have been embarrassed if she weren't used to this kind of cheering section from Rainbow Dash.

She actually had been very embarrassed a number of years ago when she first started Physical therapy. Back then Rainbow Dash had seemed, extreme, untouchable, almost like a superhero. She encouraged Scootaloo to do more than just the exercises, to do more than just hold herself up. She had nearly killed her a couple of times from the ideas she had to get her legs working. But it was all with good intentions.

Scootaloo strained, she envisioned, she painstakingly clenched her back. She wanted to do more than just drag her feet across the mat, today she was determined to pick her legs up and march down the short walkway that the bars were suspended above.

"Come on Scoots! Pain doesn't exist! It's all mental! You can do it!" Rainbow Dash was right beside her shouting in her ear. Scootaloo didn't look at her, she would pass out like Sweetie Belle. She dragged her right leg until it was directly underneath her. She then pushed herself up until it was straight, stringing her arm and back muscles she tensed.

Then she felt it.

A spasm. The briefest of spasms in her back leg.

She willed it forward, there was a soft whisper on the plastic mat. Next thing she knew she felt her second leg underneath her. Not holding her up. But there was no denying it. Her legs had moved.

"Whoa." She whispered out.

"You did it Scoots! That was awesome! You were insane! Great work!" Rainbow Dash was right beside her. All Scootaloo could do in response was grin.

Later they were doing leg stretches with Rainbow helping when she spoke.

"So looking forward to the dance?" She asked nonchalantly. Scootaloo looked up before she grinned.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"For you I'll make an exception." Rainbow responded with a grin.

"I'm going to try and actually dance at it." Rainbow paused and looked down. Scootaloo's face was set and determined a little grin on her mouth.

"Aw jeez kid, I hate to be that guy but..."

"I know it isn't really feasible, but I'm still going to try. I just have to." Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, she didn't ever say it but the kid was an inspiration the way she pushed herself.

"Then go for it." Scootaloo nodded, she couldn't wait to see the looks on everyones faces, Rainbow's, Sweetie Belle's, Spike's...Applebloom's.

The rest of the session was filled with crunches, push ups, pull ups, check ups and a bunch of other kind of ups. Scootaloo finished sore and tired. A big grin on her face, the moment she had learned that Rainbow Dash was also assistant teaching at the high school she knew she had to have her class. It was like a dream come true being able to spend even more time with her idol.

Rainbow Dash never quit, she was invincible, she was awesomeness personified.

Scootaloo rolled herself out of the hospital and was surprised to see her trio of friends standing and waiting for her.

"Hiya!" Applebloom shouted and hugged her around the neck like an excited puppy. Sweetie Belle joined in and Spike exchanged a fist bump with her.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked suspiciously, the trio exchanged confused looks.

"We wanted to hang out with you. Plus those two didn't know where it is you went for PT." Applebloom said nonchalantly before grinning widely. "Now come on! I found something neat in the library I wanted to show you guys!" She quickly grabbed the back of Scoot's wheelchair as the girl would definitely be too tired to wheel herself and started off at a sprint.

"Hmph." A young upper class polished voice said to another, the two girls came out from the hospital lobby. Diamond Tiara had just been to her third X-ray, they still found no cracks in her skull from the 'fall' and they asked that she please stop coming to them because of it.

"Well would you see that, the freaks are out."  
"Um Diamond Tiara?" Silver Spoon said as she sidled up to her friend. "I was waiting for you and I saw her enter the gym and well." Silver Spoon whispered into her only friends ear. Diamond Tiara grinned mischievously.

"So that cripple thinks she and her friends are going to enjoy the dance huh? Well we will make sure of that."


	23. Chapter 23

"I cannot wait! I cannot wait! I cannot wait!" Sweetie Belle sang loudly as she skipped around Rarities bedroom. The older girl was sitting at her desk going over some business practices that she was thinking of employing once she graduated.

It would help her choose a good shop to open up in the neighboring city.

Now if only she could get her little sister to calm down and sit still. Rarity took off her glasses and looked over at Sweetie Belle.

"Sweetie Belle please, I need to finish this. Can't you do that somewhere else?" Sweetie stopped her skipping and twirled in front of her older sister.

"But then you wouldn't be able to appreciate all of your hard work!" Her voice cracked at the last word and she grimaced in annoyance. Rarity suppressed a laugh. Puberty, it was so much fun to watch someone else suffering through it.  
Plus the girl did have a good point, Rarity had worked hard on the dresses she supplied to her friends. Sweetie's in particular she had spent a lot of time designing, scribbling out and then redesigning.

The end product looked amazing, and it was a struggle convincing the girl to not wear it all the time.

"Look you might get it messy or something and we certainly can't have that before the bog dance now can we missy?" Sweetie Belle seemed to shrink a little bit as she realized the wisdom behind her big sisters words.

"No I guess not." Sweetie went behind a small changing screen that Rarity had bought from a charming woman down in China town. It had ornamental dragons on it, they appeared to by European with the shape of the wings and the spikes across the tails. They were a vibrant purple. Sweetie enjoyed looking through them and seeing the world bathed in a purple glow.

"So what'cha working on?" Sweetie called as she got back into her nightgown. Rarity finally realized that she was not going to get any kind of work down with her lille sister in her bedroom so she decided that she could at least give her her undivided attention.

"It is a business strategy Sweetie, I am basically trying to find the easiest way to make money doing what I love." Sweetie nodded her head as she came out from around the dressing curtain. Her curly hair was pulled back behind her head in a loose ponytail, Rarity rolled her eyes and beckoned the younger girl over to her.

Sweetie sat down at her big sisters feet and smiled as Rarity began to pull a brush through it. She silently counted to herself. Just a few hundred brush strokes no more and no less.

Sweetie Belle gazed at the dragons her head turning one way and then another, Rarity would have to push her sisters head back to an upright position to get it right again. Sweetie's gaze became large and unfocused, her pupils expanding. Rarity recognized the look, it was when her sister went into a deep trance as she thought about something.

"Whatever is it that you are pondering?"

"Rarity what is love like?" Rarity looked down at her little sister in surprise.

"Wherever did that thought come from?" Sweetie turned her face up.

"Just wondering, I've never been in it so I don't think I know what it's like." Rarity raised an eyebrow. She was used to Sweetie's questions about why the sky was blue or whether or not birds could dance, but this seemed different. Heavier somehow.

"Well it is a very nice feeling, but it is also very dependent. You feel almost like that other person is a limb. And that you cannot stand or move without them...Oh I am no good at these things."

"No! No, go on, I want to hear more." Rarity stroked her sisters head for a moment.

"It is more than what you feel for siblings, it goes deeper than that. It almost...burns when you are around someone. But a lovely type of burn."

"Like when you sit outside for too long without sunblock!" Sweetie exclaimed, Rarity raised an eyebrow.  
"Have you been doing that again? I told you that is bad for your health."  
"Just because you're a marshmallow." Sweetie said, Rarity flicked her siblings ear playfully.  
"Anyway's that is what it is like for me at least. I suppose that it is different for everyone." Rarity looked at her watch before ushering Sweetie up.  
"Come it is time for you to go to bed. Big day tomorrow."

"I can't wait!" Sweetie shouted happily. She skipped around the room before gathering up her dress. "I hope Spike remembers the plan tomorrow." Rarity stopped her sister with a touch of the arm.

"Plan? what plan?" Sweetie smiled happily at her sister.

"You won't believe this, the silly billy came to my window a few nights ago, actually scaled the side of the building and asked if we were going to the dance together! He is so funny sometimes!" She said giggling excitedly. Rarity's eyes widened. She suppressed herself from jumping up and down and celebrating, they had this in the bag.

Then she had to suppress herself from face palming at Sweetie's naivety.

"Sweetie Belle. Are you telling me that Spike came here, in the middle of the night?"

"Eyup!" She said excitedly turning to go. Rarity spun her back around.

"To see you?"

"Eyup."

"And ask if you were going to the dance?"

"YES!" Sweetie almost snapped back. Rarity took her little sisters face in her hands, the baby fat that used to always be there was almost gone.

"Listen to me carefully Sweetie, I know you can be a little slow-"

"HEY!"

"But listen carefully. Spike came here, at night, climbed the house and knocked politely on your window. To ask if you would what?" Sweetie pulled out of her sisters hands.

"If I were going to the dance with him, you are acting bonkers Rarity, what's up?" Rarity stood there waiting for the pieces to click into place. Sweetie stood waiting for it to be explained. Rarity sighed in exasperation.

"Nothing, go to bed." Sweetie turned and walked away. She didn't understand her sister sometimes. All she had said was Spike had shown up in the middle of the night and asked her to the dance. Well if she and the other Crusaders were going.

As she stepped through her bedroom door something started to come together in her mind. She had been the one to say the Crusaders. Not Spike. He had asked...he had asked whether or not she was going to the dance, with him.

Spike had asked her if she would go to the dance with him.

Sweetie walked across the room, it seemed to be getting rather dark and her vision felt as if it were tunneling.

Sweetie fainted onto her mattress just as the words she had thought struck home.


	24. Chapter 24

**Midterms are finally over! To celebrate, I bring you another installment of this fanfic that people apparently like or something.**

Applejack finished putting on her light green dress, it had a pattern of red apples that went in a small circle around her hip and she was planning on wearing both her cowboy boots and favorite hat. It was a simple dress, in comparison with some of the outfits that her friends had chosen it looked rather plain.

She merely rolled her eyes, she had no idea what went through her friends heads sometimes. Rarity actually had to convince Pinkie Pie not to hot glue candy all over her outfit. She just managed to avoid a scalding.

Applejack wondered if maybe that girl had the same thing that Applebloom had Attention something something or other disorder. Fancy term, meant that she was hyperactive as a weasel in a henhouse.  
It wouldn't surprise her if Pinkie did have it, maybe it was a genetic thing, then again they weren't really close enough for genetics to count for much.

Applejack put on a necklace that Rarity insisted that she wear, a pretty little thing, orange with a light golden band encircling the stone. She attached it, having to pull out a little bit of hair in order to do so but she had to say it, that Rarity knew a thing or two about style. The country girl looked herself up and down in satisfaction before turning to go and fetch her sister and Scootaloo from Applebloom's room.

"Well Scoot's what do you think!" Applebloom shouted excitedly as she twirled in her dress, she kept going until she got a serious case of the dizzies and had to sit down hard. She laughed and Scootaloo smirked.

"You look like a well dressed dork to me." Scootaloo looked Applebloom up and down one more time, the girl had on a lovely dress that she had requested, and luckily for everyone she hadn't tried to glue any food onto it.

Applebloom's room was messy, with rollerblades, books, clothing and bedsheets strewn about. Pieces of instruments, parts of semi completed lego houses and a large wardrobe took up a lot of space. Applebloom picked up hobbies the way strays picked up fleas. Sweet Apple Acres actually had a flea infestation once from the girl trying to be a pet groomer.

Applebloom smiled at her friend who still sat in her wheelchair. Her shoes untied and her dress laying on her lap. Applebloom frowned at the sight.

"Why aren't ya'll all dressed up yet?" Scootaloo looked to the side, her smirk being replaced with a frown.

"It's nothing, I didn't want you to be disappointed or anything." Applebloom reached into a pile of dirty jeans and took out a rubber ball she started squeezing to better pay attention to her friend.

"Scoots?" Scootaloo rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand angrily.

"It is so stupid, and I don't want you to know because it is so stupid and it's just...I don't think I should go." Applebloom sat in stunned silence before jumping up.

"WHAT!"

"I just, I can't dance. And well..."she looked down at her wheelchair and squeezed one of her kneecaps. "I just don't want to be the only person there that doesn't dance, or has anyone to dance with.

Applebloom swooped over and down to her fiends level, her face pushed into Scoot's face.

"We are going and you will have the time of your life!" She said with gravity "And so what if you can't dance? I can't either! I just plan to do karate moves and hope for the best." With that Applebloom started kicking and chopping at the air wildly.

"Bloom you are nuts. But seriously, I just don't want to be the one person standing on the sidelines waiting like a loser or anything. I'd rather not go at all."

"Scoot's if'n someone don't dance with you because of your chair than they're a jerk. I'll dance with you until someone does ask you."

"And if a slow song comes on?" Scootaloo said sarcastically, the chances of that happening were a billion to one. It was a high school dance after all.

"I'll tag team Spike in or something."

"Great he can step on my other leg or something." Scootaloo said sarcastically rolling her eyes.  
"When did that happen?"  
"When he first came to school? You were spazzing out down the hall? He came in and barreled right into me, stepped on my leg a little bit."  
"JEEZ! Are you alright?" Applebloom dropped to her knees and looked at Scootaloo's legs in concern turning it one way and then another. Scootaloo wheeled herself backwards.

"Yeah yeah it was a while ago. I got him back anyw- wait a second no I didn't! Next time I see Spike I'm punching him in the kidneys." Scootaloo said determinedly. Applebloom laughed and grinned widely.

"If you keep being mean to him folks are gonna say Scootaloo has a crush." Scootaloo ground her teeth at the comment.  
"You take that back!" She said as she began to chase the girl around her room, navigating around fallen and broken legos and part of a violin.

"You two ready yet?" Applejack said as she entered, knocking on the door as it opened.

"Almost, Scoot's needs to change." Applebloom quickly ran out and closed the door behind her. Scootaloo rolled her eyes before pulling her dress on. She kept her jeans on but changed the shoes.

The trio of girls were dressed up, fancied up and ready to go. Big Macintosh carried Scootaloo, chair and all down the stairs and out the front door. Rainbow Dash arrived in a van.

"Looking good girls!" Rainbow Dash called out as she arrived. Fluttershy was already in the passenger seat and was holding onto the door handle with wide eyes.

"Sure you don't want to come Big Mac?" Applejack asked her big brother as he set Scootaloo into the car with Rainbow Dash's help.

"Eyup." He said, he had gotten his fill of high school dances a couple years ago.

He and his Granny stood outside and waved as the group of girls drove off down the road, pop music blasting from the speakers.


	25. Chapter 25

Spike rearranged the bow tie and top hat just to make sure he looked completely presentable. He smelt his breath and popped another mint. Even if he didn't dance tonight with the girl that he really wanted to, he would at least not suffer from halitosis. Spike finished putting on his shoes and walked downstairs. Twilight was smiling in panic as her parents took a thousand pictures.

For some reason they felt that it was necessary to document the first dance that their daughter had organized almost entirely by herself. Once Spike came downstairs his adopted parents swooped down on him and began a barrage of pictures, hugs and he think he felt his face being cleaned by a handkerchief at one point.

Twilight grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door just before they insisted on coming with the two of them. Once they were outside Twilight wiped some sweat off of her face. She took a little bottle out of her purse and sipped something.

"What's that?" He asked as she put it back.

"Mountain Dew, the caffeine keeps me sharp and I don't like coffee." She held the small bottle out to him but Spike politely declined he enjoyed sleeping too much.

"So we're walking over to Rarities and meeting the others there right?"

"Except Pinkie she's supposed to already be there." Spike nodded and the two well dressed teenagers started their walk towards the dress shop.

Twilight felt a buzz from her phone. She quickly flipped it open and recognized the fancy text.

Sweetie told big news!

Followed by what looked to be a barrage of cats, hearts, smiling and winking faces and something that looked like a panda eating grass.

WHAT?

Twilight responded, she didn't speak emoji at all. She could almost feel Rarity getting more and more excited through the phone. Twilight started to wonder whether or not people really did have some kind of ESP when Rarity responded.

Use simple text for you darling.

Sweetie said Spike came over and asked her to the dance!

Few nights back but still!

Twilight grinned before texting back

Got Them on the Hook now.

Twilight grinned over at her little brother, Spike seemed lost in his own thoughts, looking up at the sky and down at the ground.

'What will I say? Does she think of me that way? Could she?' He was thinking to himself, he had decided to ask Sweetie to dance with him, if anything happened, well hopefully something will happen. He didn't want to just be suppressing stuff like this his entire life.

The Boutique came within view, he took a deep breath and strode forward confidently. Twilight had to suppress a giggle, Spike trying to look confident and actually achieving it looked equal parts adorable and threatening.

Sweetie was pacing in her room, she had on her dress, a couple of earrings and a thin layer of make up. She had to almost beat Rarity away with how much the older girl was insisting. She was going to stick with a little bit of blush and some sparkling lipgloss. And just to shake things up some sparkles that she had squirreled away from a dance competition.

They went over the bridge of her nose and almost resembled Applebloom's freckles.

She heard the doorbell ring and she jumped for the door handle. Quickly spinning it open and running for the stairs. She got down the bottom jumping them three and four at a time, unconcerned with her own safety. She got to the door and pulled it open before the second ring.

"Hi!" She said perkily. Spike blushed deeply, he had forgotten how adorable she looked in the dress, and the stuff she had put across her face made her look as if she had captured some stars. Especially with how the light reflected off of them.

"Hi." He responded, he felt his throat dry up and he was worried that he had too many mints, his stomach began to roll and he wondered if the top hat made him look ridiculous.

"Sweetie Belle! Invite our guests in young lady!" Rarity trilled from the top of the stair case as she descended making her grand appearance. She was wearing a dress made of dark purple with blue diamonds sewn into the fabric, real or fake he couldn't tell.

"Rarity! You look lovely!" Twilight said as she entered the doorway behind Spike.

"I know." The older girl replied, "Please sit down, Fluttershy sent me a garbled text, but I think that they should be here soon. Twilight could you help me with something in the other room?" The two girls left for the kitchen, turning around and whispering excitedly as they left the two teenagers in the room alone together.

Spike sat on the couch and Sweetie sat next to him, they tried not to make eye contact, occasionally starting to speak only to stop. Finally Spike muscled up some courage and turned to speak.

"You look really nice tonight Sweetie." She smiled in response, her face scrunching up a little.

"Elegant you might say?" She said putting an arm behind her head and leaning back playfully.

"Glorious is the term I would use." Sweetie giggled and looked at his outfit, it was simple. Stylish, and yet also him, Spike didn't seem to follow trends, he just wore what he found to look good. The two smiled at each other for a little bit, blushed a little but mostly just smiled in silence.

A screech of tires from outside signaled Rainbow Dash's arrival. There was the slam of a door and someone storming out to the drivers side.

"That is it Rainbow! I am driving!"

"Oh please, do you even have a license." The girl said dismissivly. Spike and Sweetie Belle popped up from the couch and walked over to the window. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were arguing outside, Twilight and Rarity ran outside to keep the two from tearing each other apart. Sprinting from the other direction was Sunset Shimmer in a dress as red as her hair.

Applebloom was outside of the van praising the solid ground and Fluttershy looked green with fear.

"Never a dull moment with these guys." Spike said before turning to Sweetie "Want to go outside and see what's happening?" Sweetie grinned and nodded her head quickly.


	26. Chapter 26

It was eventually agreed that Sunset would drive as she was the only one that they all agreed probably wouldn't drive them off a cliff out of stress.

The four younger teens sat in the back talking all the way over. Well mostly Applebloom and Scootaloo talked, Spike and Sweetie sat and listened to their friends with smiles on their faces.

They got to the school to find Pinkie waiting outside for them in a blue and pink tuxedo with long coat tails and fish net gloves on, Rarity almost screamed at seeing what the girl had worn instead of the dress that she had picked out for her.

The four younger siblings quickly ducked around the bickering and laughing older students and slipped into the gym.

They did a double take upon entering. It was pretty impressive. There were streamers everywhere, an armada of balloons across the ceiling and the benches had been pulled out so students too tired to dance could sit down. There was a DJ with a large array of gadgets, she was grinning widely and playing some pretty decent music.

A snackbar had been arranged and it swept across one entire wall, with sodas, chips, cakes, mini cupcakes, mini pies and an array of pretzels and cheeses. On the other side was what must have been one of Pinkie's suggestions, a ball pit had been installed and some of their fellow students were wading through the eight inches of multicolored balls.

"Wow." Spike said as he walked into the middle, a disco ball had been hooked up to the top of the rafters and seemed to be thudding with the music.

"Twilight really out did herself this time." Applebloom agreed as she walked into the center beside him. She then grinned and went running off to the ball pit. Scootaloo looked after her for a second.

"Not worth it." She said before she turned and wheeled off to get a cup of punch. Spike and Sweetie stood beside each other for a few seconds in silence before he grinned.

"This is gonna be fun." She smiled back before a sudden realization seemed to go across her face.

"Have you ever been to a school dance before?"

"Never been to a regular dance before. This is all a first for me." Sweetie looked shocked before she smiled.

"Well let's make it a great night then!" She shouted, a fast beat song came on and Sweetie's head instantly swiveled towards the floor like an eager puppy. Spike noticed the look on her face and had to regain his composure forcefully.

"Want to dance?" He offered with a wave of his hand. Sweetie Belle grabbed a hold of his wrist and pulled him onto the dance floor. Spike tried to keep up with her manic pace but Sweetie seemed to be ignoring everything else as she was on the dance floor. She just appeared to slip into a different level of being.

Spike could only watch as she moved, every part of her was involved, an enormous smile on her face the entire time. Spike couldn't keep her eyes off of her as they moved with the other group of kids on the floor, everyone was just slipping through the notes, but she, she was becoming the notes.

When the song ended she wiped her forehead and grinned again.

"Want a drink?" He offered, Sweetie looked at the floor, as if suddenly bashful in his presence. Spike took it for a yes and walked over, she followed closely behind. He poured them two cups of punch and handed her one. She took one sip before she spat it back in her cup coughing.

"Oh jeez! Do not drink that."

"Why?" Spike asked as he took a sip and instantly regretted it, it tasted as if there were fourteen bags of sugar poured inside of it. He quickly placed it back down and coughed.

"Pinkie Pie must have made this." He shook his head. Sweetie grabbed a couple of soda cans and handed one to him. He popped the top and chugged, the bubbles got out the sugar.

"Uh Spike?" Sweetie looked at him "Can I ask you a question." He felt sweaty and nervous all of a sudden, why did he feel so sweaty and nervous?!

"A few weeks ago you sort of came to my house in the middle of the night, you asked me if I wanted to go to the dance with you...I was just wondering what you meant by that?" She bit her lower lip and tapped her chin with the soda can. Spike gulped and took another sip. The carbonation did nothing to soothe his nerves.

Something caught his eye from across the room. He frowned, he recognized the two girls.

"Oh come on." He ground out. Sweetie looked too and frowned. They made their way across the room to where Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were standing, they had on matching gold and silver outfits that made them look like something out of a science fiction movie.

"Well well well, if Tweedelde and Tweedledum." Diamond Tiara said nastily as they got up next to them.

"Lay off alright? It stopped being funny when it started." Sweetie responded, she glowered at the girl who merely scoffed.

At this point, Scooaloo and Applebloom had seen their friends clash with the two girls. They made their way towards the group of kids and got there just in time to hear:

"Hear that? She's actually trying to stand up for herself, now isn't that a laugh riot!"

"You know you would probably be a lot more intimidating if you had more than one crony to have at your disposal." Spike quipped.  
"Oh yeah." Scootaloo high fived him in victory.

"Oh shut up, want to know what this enormous faker does? She has a secret. And I know it." Diamond Tiara said menacingly. Scootaloo looked down at her knee caps, she clutched the hem of her skirt.

"Why don't you just go and annoy someone else?" Spike said standing up for his friends. Diamond Tiara's eyes lit up, waiting for that opening.  
"Let's see, I can get away with it, they deserve it, they're weird; trust me on this everyone thinks so, and seriously what can they do about it? If their not fakers than they have nothing to contribute. And if there is one thing that needs to happen in life. Well it's that you contribute."

"Exactly." Silver Spoon spoke up beside her probably only friend, her phone was out, camera on, she was probably intending to edit it to make Diamond Tiara look good or witty or something. Spike looked at the phone then at the girl who held it. His hand snaked out and snatched it up. He quickly passed it to Sweetie Belle who passed it off to Applebloom who turned and chucked it.

It landed with a little splash in the punch bowl.

After the two girls got over their shock at the impudence their eyes widened. Amazed. Spike looked behind him, Sweetie's jaw dropped and Applebloom suppressed a gasp.

Scootaloo was standing up, sure she was holding onto her wheelchair, but her legs were straight as was her back. She looked at the two girls who stood there in amazement.

"You know, I have know you two since first grade, and you have been the same snot nosed jerks ever since. I may be a cripple but I can get stronger, Applebloom might be hyperactive but she can get laser focus, Sweetie might be a wimp but she can become strong, Spike might be a hopeless case but I think he might get better."

"Thanks?" He said awkwardly.

"My point is, we can change, but you two." She just snorted. Suddenly a new CD was popped in and the music turned slower. Scootaloo looked at Applebloom and held out her hand. Applebloom accepted it with a mock curtsey.

"Come on Sweetie." Spike said taking the girls hand and pulling her back onto the floor as a slow song started it's beat. "Let's dance."


	27. Chapter 27

"Oh my Good word." Rarity said looking past Twilight, Twilight prepared to turn around when Rarity blocked her.

" Don't just look up at the window and you can see the reflection." Twilight squinted upwards past her friends head, she only saw a reflection of the darkened room.

Applejack just sighed and pointed.

"Check it out." Twilight's eyes widened as she saw Spike and Sweetie Belle walk onto the dance floor, a slow song that she had requested by played a few times through the evening for the folks who wanted it was on.

The two teenagers were swaying side to side, a little awkwardly, but there was a confidence in their contact. Sweetie had her hand on Spike's shoulder and he was holding her waist. They were looking at each other and every few seconds looking away to blush. Still they did not break contact.

"Oh my GOOOOOSSSSHHHHH." Fluttershy gushed out as she watched. Her eyes wide and hands on her cheeks. "That is so adorable."

"Well you two actually pulled it off, congrats." Sunset said as she sat down on the bleachers, the others sat down beside her in a loose clump.

"We didn't do anything, I'm a little amazed that it happened with out or help." Applejack quirked an eyebrow.

"Ya'll made a dance in a matter, and she made a slew of outfits. All in order to get your younger siblings to date." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but it wasn't like it was hard."

"Speaking of younger siblings." Rainbow Dash pointed out, she was smiling lightly and rubbed at her eyes. Applejack's face went slack and she seemed to be in shock. The others could only gawk.

Scootaloo and Applebloom were on the dance floor. Scoot's legs were shivering slightly and the two held each other's shoulders. They were grinning and chatting a little bit.

"AJ? You alright?" Sunset waved her hand in front of AppleJack's face, the girl shook her head and smiled as Applebloom straightened up and Scootaloo's legs were picked off the floor.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay."

"Guys!" Pinkie shouted popping out from the slowly moving crowd, beside her holding her hand was a boy whose hair was brown and as unruly as the girls. He had on a bright yellow bow tie and a top hat that was just a little taller and thinner than Spikes. His tuxedo had weird pineapple cutouts decorating it.

"This is my boyfriend Cheese Sandwich! You've met him three times." She said standing back and gesturing wildly at the boy. He grinned widely at the group of girls.

"Yeah yeah that's nice Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said to the hyperactive girl. The rest still had their eyes glued to the dancing couple on the gym floor. Pinkie's expression turned to one of frustration and mild deadpan.

"I told you my friends are crazy." She said to Cheese Sandwich rolling her eyes.

"Well lucky for you I like crazy." He said grabbing her hand, Pinkie Pie began to giggle uncontrollably as she began pulling him back into the fray.

"You're so light t'on your feet." Applebloom said as the country girl picked the blushing girl up easily. Her arms and muscles had grown strong from working on the farm so often.

Scootaloo glowered and squirmed in embarrassment.

"I swear I will straight up bite you. In the face." Applebloom laughed heartily and put her slowly and gently back down until her feet touched the floor.

"So when were you going to tell us?"

"Tonight actually, just waiting for the right moment. Luckily it presented itself." Scootaloo looked down ad slowly bent at the waist, her legs were stick like and wouldn't move all that much. Applebloom rotated in a circle with Scootaloo at the center.

"I'm glad you got to dance at least once, on your own two legs." Scootaloo smiled up at her friend. Suddenly her legs felt weak. Feeling was leaving them, before it had just been pricks and needles.

"I have to sit down again." Applebloom nodded and took one of her arms in hand to support her weight. She turned to call back to Sweetie and Spike,Scootaloo grasped her arm.

"Leave those two, they look like their having fun."

Spike saw Scootaloo and Applebloom wander off out of the corner of his eye. He debated whether or not to follow them. He decided he wanted to stay there. With her, just for a little bit longer.

"Hey Spike?" He looked at Sweetie Belle, they had moved closer to the gym doors, a breeze was going through and past them into the gymnasium. Outside it was quiet and the stars were scattered across the sky, numerous as sand on a beach.

"Yeah Sweetie Belle?" The girl took a deep breath and kept her head lowered and eyes closed, as if preparing for a faint.

"Do you want to get something from Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow? With me? Just me?" She whispered the last part. Spike stared down at her, his heart over the moon.

"Spike?" She asked as he just stared at her smiling like a doofus.

"Of course!" He cried before lowering his voice, a couple had given him a weirded out look.

"Of course, I would love too."

Sweetie Belle grinned and then she pulled herself closer. Her arms wrapped around him in a hug and they swayed beside the open doorway until the end of the song.

"Well well well." the fat boy said, he was squatting on the ground and looking through some binoculars he had stolen once they had gotten out of state.

"Looks like our little Spikey has a girlfriend."

"They grow up so fast." The lanky boy with long hair cackled. He was sitting on the hood of the car. A large homely looking girl with crossed eyes was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

"Just another one for the pile." A boy with a sunburned face and a mohawk spiked up with gel said. He took another long pull on his cigarette, smoke twisted out of his nostrils.

He could just make out the two figures holding each other and swaying.

"Find out where she and her friends live, also his sister's friends just to be safe. We need the message to be clear."

He flicked the butt and it smoldered against a nearby tree. The boys piled into the car and it went off into the night, roaring.


	28. Chapter 28

**Alright guys, this is kind of a short chapter, but longer ones will be coming, I promise. Probably not this weekend though, my birthday is Friday and I'm probably going to be out celebrating for a lot of it.**

Spike finally bit the bullet and drank the coffee. It was as bitter as he thought it would be. He poured in five big scoops of sugar and enough milk that it turned more white than black. Still he couldn't get the unpleasant taste off of his tongue.

He wouldn't even need to drink the disgusting stuff if he didn't need to be alert. And he wouldn't need to be this alert if he could sleep in. But being the moron that he was he had scheduled to meet Sweetie Belle early.

They had stayed at the dance until around ten, and then drove everyone home. They had to go back to the school to pick up Pinkie Pie's boyfriend who they had accidentally left there. He had been as surprised as everyone else to learn that she was actually dating someone.

But still he had gotten in late and woken up early. So he felt completely and utterly beat, and thus the coffee. He took another gulp and gagged. Twilight was already up and working on some papers that she needed to help grade for a class that she was helping tach. She took a crunch of the toast that he had made her.

Sometimes she wouldn't eat unless he placed a forkful right in front of her face.

She paused and put her pen down, she rubbed at her eyes. He couldn't blame her working on all of that stuff so early in the morning.

"Oh man. This kids are just so stupid." Twilight said sadly. Spike leaned over a little to see whose paper it was she was grading. She quickly slipped it away and shook her finger at him.

"Tsk, Tsk."

"Sorry I was just curious." He replied taking another sip before biting into his cereal, the sweetness helped wash the taste out. Twilight looked at the clock then back at her little brother.

"Don't you have plans today?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting up with Sweetie Belle in an hour and a half." He said through a mouthful of cereal before swallowing.

"You?"

"I'm attending the band practice, Sunset is going to be teaching Rainbow a couple new chords she can't handle." Spike raised an eyebrow. "Sunset's words not Rainbow Dash's."

"Ah." He replied. Twilight smiled at Spike suggestively, he continued to chew and ignored her.

"So Sweetie Belle huh?" Spike's defensive system went up at the way that she said the name. He looked up slowly and nodded.

"Yeah...what about it?"

"Nothing, she sure is cute huh?" Twilight smiled and winked at him. Spike blushed and muttered into his coffee mug.

"What was that?" Twilight asked leaning forward.

"So is Sunset Shimmer." He responded dryly. Twilight blushed and twirled her hair around one finger.  
"What do you mean? I have no idea what it is your talking about." She quickly spoke out not making eye contact. Spike grinned in response.  
"You tease me about Sweetie and I will retaliate." He said taking a sip. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Okay fair, but I'm just stating a fact, she is a nice girl. Plus a little Rarity told me that she is available." Spike tried not to expose his excitement but she could read him well. He sat up straight and looked excited for a moment, visibly hopeful. His eye sparkled like a gemstone at the information. He quickly looked at the clock.

"You know, it is a quite a walk downtown, I think I'm going to get started now." He gulped down the rest of his food and plopped the dishes in the dishwasher.  
"Tell everyone that I'll be home either early tonight or late afternoon." He said as he embraced Twilight quickly around the neck and gave her an affectionate hug. She smiled as he zoomed out the door, his purple sweatshirt flapping behind him.

He would probably be an hour early but if he was willing to wait than Twilight wasn't going to stop him.

Sweetie Belle twisted over in her sleep. She slowly sat up and walked to her pile of clothes she had got out for the day. She hummed as she got dressed in a flowing white skirt, a pink cardigan and a purple tshirt, she slipped on her knee-high socks and her boots. She loved her boots.

She felt a little woozy as she left her room to go downstairs. She hadn't gotten as much sleep last night as she should have, but in her defense she had gotten in very late after having a great night. So it was justified. She prepared some tea and drank three cups before it was even really cool. She burned the roof of her mouth and gasped.

Running to the freezer she pulled out the ice cube tray and began sucking on one. The creak of stairs and the descent of her sister caught her attention.

"mrning Rarty." She mumbled out from around the ice cube.

"Good morning Sweetie Belle." Rarity responded as she looked into the tea bin to find that they were out. She looked at the three empty cups that sat in the sink and rolled her eyes.

"Sweetie darling could you sit down before you leave?" Sweetie looked at her sister suddenly concerned, Rarity had on her parental face, and that usually meant a discussion about her. Sweetie slowly sat down, resigned. She wouldn't even be able to argue her way out of it with the ice cube in her mouth!

"Now I know that you are off to see Spike today." Sweetie's heart race increased and she sat up straighter in her chair, his very name excited her, she looked at her sister concerned. What was Rarity going to do? Did she like Spike? Did she approve that the two were dating? What was the older girl going to say?

"Since you have started high school now I think that it is only appropriate that we set a few ground rules." With that Rarity pulled out her phone and glasses and cleared her throat.

"Line one Chapter one of fifty-seven." Sweetie Belle sunk into her chair already exhausted.


	29. Chapter 29

Spike paced outside of the candy shop in town that was directly adjacent to Sugar Cube Corner, it actually had a connecting door so people could go from one store to another. Sweetie Belle had wanted to meet him there for some reason and so he was there, waiting on her bright and early. He wished he had a phone or something so that he could contact her, in fact having a phone would probably make his overall life much easier.

He checked the clock in the store front window for the fifth time when he heard the clatter of shoes coming up the street. He looked up expectantly and there she was walking straight towards him. A tired smile on her face and bags under her eyes.

"Hey Spike!" She said as she finished the distance between them and hugged him around the neck. He wrapped his own arms around her and smiled.

"Hi Sweetie." He pulled back and sucked her up, she looked lovely even when a little bit ragged around the edges. "Did you get enough sleep last night?" She shrugged before she studied him.

"Did you?" He grinned and showed her a thin stick of an arm.

"Don't worry about me, I'm tough." He honestly was ready to fall over from exhaustion. Sweetie laughed at the serious look on his face.

"Alright then mister tough guy, how about we go in?" Spike quickly stepped to the door and swept it open. She smiled and thanked him as she entered. The store had been opened for a long time, one of it's employees was a girl from the high school. Spike saw her around every now and again but he for the life of him could not remember her name.

Sweetie looked around the store her eyes filled up with the joy that comes whenever you enter a candy store. The two of them walked down the aisles side by side, Spike was trying to get ready to ask a question but kept stopping himself, he was just nervous. A million thoughts ran through his head, whether or not this was going well, if he was screwing everything up or if he was just coming off as weird.

'She asked you out.' One voice in his head said.

'Probably out of pity.' A second one said.

'I am going insane.' Spike thought to himself. He suddenly stopped and turned. He had seen them out of the corner of his eye and just had to stop. A full wall display of rock candy, along with jaw breakers and some hard candy that they hand out at dentist offices. Spike looked at it, his mouth watered and he felt his stomach growl.

He reached into his pocket and took out some cash that he had been saving up. Mostly from spare change that he exchanged for solid bills from Twilight. He was about to grab six or seven different flavors when he stopped himself.

This was a date or something like that right? And wasn't the guy supposed to buy everything on the date? Would he have enough?

He quickly counted out the money before looking longingly at the sugar and water concoction. He finally picked out a grape flavored one and pulled a buck fifty from his cash. That much wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things right?

Spike turned only to see that Sweetie Belle had wandered off. He began to walk quickly from aisle to aisle looking for her, he finally stopped, she was browsing over a display of different European chocolates, she compared them before tucking some hair behind her ear. Spike slowly and softly sneaked up on her, he didn't mean to be sneaky about it. He just walked like that sometimes.

He tapped her on the shoulder. Sweetie Belle yelped and shot straight up into the air. Her hair standing on end. She then looked woozy, out of it.

"Oh no." Spike said as he grabbed her as she swooned. She fell backwards and he grabbed her and supported her weight. His legs luckily kept him up. His purple rock candy fell on the ground and crunched in half.

"Oh no. Oh no. Sweetie? You there?" Her eyes fluttered and she slowly stood up.

"Yeah. M'fine." She said as she stood unsteadily on her feet. She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She looked at him and gave a reassuring smile.

"I'm okay."

"Do you want to sit down? I think you should sit down." He said worriedly fluttering around her. Sweetie smiled for a second, she closed her eyes and swayed a little on her feet.

"Yeah, lets go to Sugar Cube Corner." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and he grasped one of her arms to steady her. They walked through the dividing doorway and into the restaurant.

Spike grabbed the first empty booth and slid her into it. She sat with her head on the table and breathed in and out softly. Mrs Cake walked over with a menu and a concerned look.

"Everything okay here dearie?" She asked in her motherly way. Sweetie nodded her head still on the table and Spike responded as well.

"Well can I get you anything?" Spike looked at Sweetie Belle she muttered something out that was mumbled by the table.

"Two vanilla milkshakes please." He said taking out the cash for it. He paused and looked around the cafe was quiet that day. "Excuse me Mrs Cake? Where's Pinkie Pie?"

Mrs Cake rolled her eyes heavenward. "That girl, she slept over at her boyfriends last night, poor thing always gets a little devastated when he leaves for another month or two. They spend as much time together as they can when he is here." She walked off to get the drinks for the two kids.

Sweetie smiled her chin resting against the cool ceramic table.

"You didn't have to buy it for me."

"I wanted to." He insisted, Sweetie blushed in response and smiled.  
"You're so nice."

"Thanks." He replied, they fell into silence before he opened up the conversation again. "So uh Sweetie? I really liked dancing with you last night...and I sort of like spending..."

"Yes?" She prompted smiling mischievously yet also very cutely. Spike took a deep breath, he hated when people knew what he was about to say and made him spell it out.

"I really like you, and well...I kinda, sort of, maybe...if you want...we could be a couple?" Sweetie smiled in response.

"Okay." Spikes' heart nearly ripped through his ribcage and did backflips on the table while singing a classic song.

"Great!" He responded. Sweetie sat up straight and looked him in the eyes.  
"But we need to set some ground rules okay?" She said authoritatively. Spike nodded wondering what she possibly meant by that.

"Number one, I think it was super sweet you coming to see me that night. But you shouldn't do it anymore. We both need our sleep." Spike could agree with that, he had done that mostly out of desperation.

"Also just for the record this is one of Rarity's not mine. No 'Hanky Panky'." She said with air quotes. Spike blushed and slowly reached across the table to take her hand.

"And where exactly do we draw the line?" Her hand felt soft as velvet and delicate as a glass sculpture. Sweetie grinned and squeezed his small calloused hand back.

"I think that will be okay." Suddenly he leaned forward his confidence nearly breaking him when he gave her a quick peck on the lips.  
"And that?" Her eyes became unfocused, she smiled lightly, she began to lean further and further to the left.

"Sweetie?" He asked concerned. She slipped onto the bench seat and looked up at him. She closed her eyes for a second before reopening them

"You almost made me faint again." She smiled at him, Spike did not know how to take the fact that his kiss had almost made his sort of girlfriend faint.

"I'll be more careful next time." He assured her. She sat up and looked at him.

"Well here is a rule from em and not Rarity. I am not a piece of glass, don't treat me lightly. I can take a lot before breaking. Don't be afraid to be around me." Spike looked at her, she was sitting up with all her strength, her hands clenched together. He smiled and nodded at her.

"Of course. I'll always treat you as Sweetie Belle, and nothing less." She smiled and this time she leaned across the table and planted an unexpected kiss on his lips.


	30. Chapter 30

**Happy birthday to me!**  
Sweetie Belle belted the note out proudly, she was standing in the middle of the practice room and was just letting her voice fill up the empty space. She lifted with the notes and followed it along, she felt happy, unconditionally happy.That was the feeling she had woken up with that morning and she had kept it going by leaving early and singing in the room. Scootaloo and Applebloom had met up with her earlier in the morning and were listening with half an ear, mostly focused on playing a game of cards.

When she finished holding the final note and stood panting for air they applauded her, Applebloom gave a few strong whistles. She walked over and sat down heavily beside them on the risers. She grabbed the water bottle that Scootaloo offered her and took a few deep gulps. She gratefully handed the bottle back.

Scootaloo reached into her backpack, rummaged around and pulled out her spray bottle, holding it up by a finger she aimed it at Sweetie.

"I have the spray thing with me in case you want a spurts or two." Scootaloo offered as Sweetie Belle was still looking a little flushed.

"I'm fine but thanks for offering." She said with a smile and a tilt of her head. Scootaloo shrugged before turning to Applebloom and letting out a shot into the red heads face. She spluttered and held up the cards, flinging some of the soaked deck at the girl.

"HEY!" She threw some more and Scootaloo just laughed in response. Applebloom pouted and turned away.

"If I said I wanted tae be drenched I would'a gone down to the crick." Scootaloo paused for a second before grinning.

"Lets do that then!" The girls looked at her in confusion.

"Seriously why not? Dash said the weather tomorrow is supposed to be the last warm day of the year, one last swim before we have to go completely into fall and winter!"

"We will probably die of hypothermia." Sweetie said seriously. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I seriously now have the urge to go swimming! I can't go down alone! Besides." Scootaloo said sneakily and leaned forward resting her head near Sweetie Belles.

"This is a chance for you to see Spike in a swimsuit." Sweetie Belle gawked and flushed pulling away from her friend and batting at her face. She didn't know why her friends kept insisting that she somehow was lecherous. IT wasn't her fault for being the first one out of any of them to get boyfriend.

"I really regret telling you guys that the two of us are dating." she said before huffing and turning her face up. She then slowly looked back at them, her mind had gotten a really dark idea.

"Do you think he has a six pack?" She asked them. Applebloom fell over laughing while Scootaloo had to roll away and bump her forehead against the blackboard.

"Of course you would ask that." Scootaloo said laughing uncontrollably. Sweetie looked between the two of them.

"What? What?" She demanded the two just kept laughing. She sighed before leaning backwards.

"Fine but only if Applebloom and Spike go." She said. Applebloom looked up surprised.

"It's on my property! Ya'll ain't just gonna use it and cut me out!" She said defensively. She nodded her head at Scootaloo "I'm a going. And I got a suit that'll knock your garter's off!" She said Scootaloo grinned at her.

"Oh I just cannot wait to see it!"

"See what?" Spike said as he entered. His eyes had dark bags underneath them even though he had gotten almost ten and a half hours of sleep. He still never seemed to get enough without three naps peppered in.

"Spike!" Sweetie said excitedly running and throwing her arms around his neck and shoulders. She wanted to kiss him but Spike had said he wasn't really okay with public displays of affection. So they normally kept it down to hand holding and hugs. Sweetie personally wanted to have an arm around him at all times; she was very hands on and liked to express herself. But she was also respectful of his wishes and comfort zone.

"How are you?" She said smiling brightly. He grinned at her sleepily.

"Okay. What have you three been up to?" He sat down on the lowest riser and looked around the room, one arm around Sweeties shoulders.

"We're all going swimming soon at the crick. Want in?" Applebloom said excitedly her leg bouncing up and down. She didn't even wait for an answer as her eyes were caught by something flashing outside of the window.

The sun had glinted off of some guys glasses or something. A group of people piled into a car and drove off.

"Crick?" He said.

"She means the creek, it's on Sweet Apple Acres, you in dude?" Scootaloo said. Spike grunted before answering.

"Sure sounds fun, swimming right?" He slowly put some pieces together and looked at Sweetie Belle. She smiled back at him, swimming, that implied a swimsuit. He controlled his beating heart. He also slowly rubbed at his chest with his free arm. His skin suddenly felt too tight. Like something was stuck in him that should have probably been let out earlier.

Sweetie grinned happily and clapped her hands. "This is going to be so much fun! We could go there straight after school and then maybe do homework at Appleblooms or something!" Said girl nodded and grinned upon hearing her name.

"Sure! Nobody would mind!"

Scootaloo pumped her fists into the air.  
"SWIMMING!" She said excitedly. Spike looked around at the excited girls about to embark on a foolish adventure just before winter into a spring fed brook.

"Swimming." He copied with a lot less oomph to his victory fist bump.


	31. Chapter 31

**Sorry about the weird formatting last night, guys. Hopefully this'll fix any problems you guys ran into.**

"Applebloom this is pretty easily the craziest idea you've had in a long while." Applejack said as her sister was packing up. The two of them were standing in front of the younger girls locker, she was quickly reaching in and scooping things out. The red head rolled her eyes at her older sisters overbearing attitude.

"Oh come on AJ, it's one last dip! What could go wrong? Don't answer that." she said quickly cutting her sibling off. Applejack was undeterred.

"Hypothermia, pneumonia, frostbite." she listed off. Applebloom merely huffed.

"Risks we are ah'll willing tae take." Applejack rubbed her head, it felt as hot as fresh cooked apple crumble, only her little sister could get her this worked up, angry, concerned and confused all at once.

"At least wait till I can walk down with ya'll. I'm the only one who knows CPR." she said. Applebloom groaned and slammed her head into the locked.

"Ow." She said before pulling it free. Her sister was the only person she knew who could be this difficult. "I shouldn't have even told'ja before we went."

Applejack frowned, she appreciated honesty above all else, honest, family, promises, that was the way she structured her life; the fact that her little sister didn't see it that way always made her a little concerned.

"Well tough cookies missy, I'ma going down to the crick with ya'll today. And that is final." Applebloom pouted before she pulled her swimsuit and towel out of her locked and stuffed them into her backpack.

They had made the plans yesterday and were going down that afternoon once school had let out. Of course Applejack had to have stopped her in the hallway and have a discussion with her, and she had to have let it slip that they were going swimming in the creek that afternoon. The two sisters walked outside to were the others were waiting.

It was actually a surprisingly nice day. The sun was the color of melted butter, there was no wind, and the birds were chirping melodious songs while taking off through the trees. The Crusaders, Spike and the other six were standing below a statue of a stallion in front of the school. The sunlight glinted off of it and created a square of rainbows around the group.

Pinkie Pie was hanging off of the top and retelling an exciting story to the group, she turned herself upside down once she noticed Applejack and waved to her wildly, her hands a blur. She launched herself off through the air and skipped, hopped and jumped to her friend before gathering her up in a hug and lifting her feet off of the ground. Pinkie was either the second or strongest person in their immediate friend group, with first place in a constant flux between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Jackie!" She said excitedly before she pulled her along behind her. Applejack snagged Applebloom by her wrist before she could sneak away.  
"We were just talking about you guys! Well actually we were talking about apples and that lead to a discussion on pears and have you ever noticed how some pears have a strange little head but apples don't? So anyway we began to compare the two to different species of fruit which caused a debate over whether or not you've actually ever eaten anything besides apples as a fruit, so we've been wondering-mhhm hmmfhmfmf!"

Applejack had covered Pinkies mouth with her hand, it was usually the easiest way to get a word in after she had started on one of her long winded explanations.

"I think that whatever a person eats is their own personal business Pinkie, sorry ya'll but I can't hang around too long. These four here want to go for a swim and I need to keep an eye on em." She said to the group gesturing to the four youngsters.

"Is that really wise? I mean it isn't summer anymore." Twilight said pointedly. Spike rolled his eyes.

"Come on Twi it's crazy warm for this time of year. I think we should be fine."

"If we want to do it at all we need to do it now while it's still warm out." Applejack said pointing her head skyward, it was still clear outside but that could change by mid afternoon.

Twilight sighed, she smiled and agreed in the end, she could trust Spike. Anyway Applejack was going to be there too, if there was anyone in her friend group that she knew would be able to take good care of them it would be her country friend.

"Okay but be home before dinner understand?" Twilight cautioned. Spike grinned and quickly agreed.

The creek was a deep and long twisting body of water that was near the Sweet Apple Orchard, it had numerous places to dive from, wade into and lounge in. The place where they had chosen to swim was by an old shack, it was partially collapsed in the roof and a few of the splintered boards could be easily shoved in, but overall it was well put together.

The water was clear and bright, reflecting the sunlight in bright flashes that could blind someone. Applejack put down a lawn chair and sat in it, her back to the shed.  
"Ya'll girls get changed first now." She said waving the three crusaders inside. Scootaloo, with a little help from the other two managed to heft her wheelchair into the shed.

Spike plopped his and Sweetie Belle's backpack onto the ground next to Applejack, he then sat down next to her. The two sat in silence looking out at the water. Applejack leaned down and plucked a grass stem and began chewing on it. Spike fidgeted like fire ants were under his skin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter.

He flicked it on and off gazing into the flame. He put his hand over it to warm up his fingers, he had been feeling a little bit chilly.

"What's that you got there Spike?" Applejack asked nonchalantly. She took her blade of grass out of her mouth and stuck the tip into the fire. It lit up and she blew it out, a little whiff of smoke moved up off of the tip, floating away like a smoke signal. Spike paused and squirmed a little, he hated lying to someone who was always so upfront about everything.

"I uh found it, yeah it was just sitting on a wall. Found it on my way to school today." He said trying to make it sound as smooth as possible. The girl frowned, smelling something off. She looked at him with an unwavering gaze before she nodded.

"Fine, if you say so."

"You're turn Spike!" Spike looked up, the girls had changed already. Scootaloo was wearing a blue one piece swimsuit with an orange stripe down the sides, Applejack had on a bright green swimsuit and her bow was pulled out of her long red hair. Sweetie Belle had combed hers back into a pigtail and was wearing a swimsuit with pink and purple taking up half of each side.

Scootaloo was being carried bridal style by Applebloom, the muscular farmer didn't even seemed fazed by carrying the cripple.

"Do I weight anything to you?"  
"Not really it's kind a like holding a grape." Applebloom responded before she went sprinting into the water. Scootaloo screaming all the way.  
Sweetie Belle skipped over to Spike and gave him the first kiss of the day on the lips. She rested her palms on his chest before pulling back and smiling.

"Hurry up and change then join us!"

With an invitation like that Spike got dressed in a matter of heartbeats. He was in and out of the shed like a magician. Applejack smiled amused at how eager he seemed. The girls were in the water and splashing around all ready. They stopped and stared as he came out of the shed. Spike was past Applejack and at the waters edge before he realized what they were staring at.

Applejack gasped when she saw the scars and cuts up and down his back and chest, there were some on his legs and arms but not enough that they wouldn't disappear if they were under clothes. The cuts were in such a pattern that it looked designed, like he had scales across his chest and back. He stood self-consciously at the waters edge. He rubbed his arm suddenly shy with the closest friends he had ever had in his entire life.

Sweetie Belle charged forward out of the laid a warm hand on his chest again, this time a palm was over his heart, right were a twisted knot of scar tissue had formed.

"Tag your it!" She said as she dove back into the water. She resurfaced and shook her hair, and shivered. Spike stopped and stared.  
"Well come on! Your it!" Scootaloo shouted out as she swam away from the others her arms keeping her afloat.

Spike's smile hurt his face. He whooped like a hyena and jumped into the water. He was drenched in a heartbeat. The water was cold as the ocean and set his teeth on edge, he felt like he had been submerged into a milkshake from sugar cube corner. He swam after Sweetie Belle determined to pay her back.

"H-h-how much longer ya gonna g-g-g-g-g" Applebloom stuttered as she sat shivering in her kitchen wrapped in a quilt, a cup of hot cocoa in front of her and a slice os steaming apple crumble.

"Gloat." Sweetie Belle said, she was cushioned between Spike and Scootaloo, she had her own blanket wrapped tightly around herself and would only drink while holding the cup through the warm blanket.

"Yeah." Applebloom said to her older sister. Applejack just looked at her as she fetched them another hot water bottle. While the air was warm the water was just a little over freezing. They had only realized that after swimming in it for over forty five minutes.


	32. Chapter 32

Twilight was sitting in the music room. She had a guitar on her lap and was pulling at the strings, a few plinks came from them, she would then look at a book and check to make sure that it was all in order.

She took a couple of notes before she pulled at another string. She moved her hands around it slowly. She adjusted her glasses to make the cords come into better focus. She frowned and scribbled something down. She loved figuring out new things but there was just something about music that eluded her, it might as well have been written in a foreign language.

Actually that would be easier to understand, she had already mastered four new ones. Music was like the alphabet in some of Spikes and Shining Armor comic books, utter gibberish. It made little sense to the girl, and here she was sitting trying to decipher the aggravating instrument.

She groaned and tried it from the top.

A knock on the door and in entered Sunset Shimmer. She looked at the frustrated nerd who was surrounded by music books and had a guitar across her lap.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously as she sat cross-legged in front of the girl. The two had a unique relationship, almost as if they were a teacher and pupil, yet the roles were reversed so often that neither was entirely certain who had first taught the other. Twilight looked at her, her eyes zombified and tired as a dog after a marathon.

"I'm trying to learn this infernal song, but I can't make any sort of progress!" She said disgusted. She ran her thumb over the device again and got a serious of plunks and plinks. Sunset looked at some of the notes that she had.

"You know most of these you could have gotten from the internet right? On your phone or laptop?"

"Call me conceited but I prefer actually researching and using paper. I find that it gives me more of a developmental edge." Sunset nodded before she flipped the notes around and studied them.

"Yeah see the only problem with that is that these are for oboes, and that one is for an electric bass, you just have an unplugged guitar." Twilight looked down at her lap before blushing purple. Sunset grinned before she swept around the room, ordering the papers and plugging the guitar in.

While Twilight was a real egghead she was always chaotic in her ordering system, how she found anything was a wonder to Sunset. She then picked Twilight up and had her stand, she got behind her and grabbed her hands.

"Okay you feel this? This is an A chord." She strummed it, and Twilight's hands followed her. Twilight stiffened at how close they were, she could smell the shampoo that Sunset used. Sunset nodded and strummed the chord again, Twilight did so as well and tried not to lean back against her friend.

"And this one here is a G chord." She said slightly raising her voice as if to imitate the music that the instrument was slowly creating. Twilight strummed it a couple of times.

"What is this for anyway?" Twilight looked down embarrassed.

"You'll think I'm being silly."

"Probably. You should tell me anyway."

"Well...I'm writing a song, for a person that I really really really like." Twilight said, this time she was leaning back against Sunset, the girl almost purred at the contact.  
"MMMHHHMMM. And do I know them?" she said teasingly as she strummed the guitar a little bit more, hitting a few notes that she happened to know off the top of her head. She had been playing the guitar for a few years now and she always got a kick out of it, she should practice it more.

Twilight looked at Sunset over her shoulder, the two of them were not even a breath apart.

"Yeah, it's for you." She said, Sunset grinned and kissed Twilight on the lips. The two stood there, Twilight's heart pounded and blood zoomed through her ears, she felt as lightheaded as a feather and would claim that her feet had left the ground much as Pinkie Pie's would when she got excited. Sunset resisted the urge to smile smugly into the kiss, she was enjoying herself to much to think about how long she had been dropping hints around Twilight.

Now she finally had her attention.

They swore they heard sparks fly.

That was when the explosions started to go off in front of the school. The two jumped at the first burst and then hit the ground once the next six went off. The guitar fell to the ground and let out a squeal like a wounded animal. The explosions went off for another few moments, the two merely lay on the ground with their arms over their heads in shock.

Twilight finally looked up at Sunset the girl's eyes were wide, perfectly mirroring Twilight's own expression.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. What was that?"

"I don't know." The two crawled to the window and looked out. There were kids milling all around smoke everywhere and a long smudge from where something had exploded. Spike was right by the mark with an unconscious Sweetie Belle and Applebloom and Scootaloo next to him, Scootaloo had fallen out of her wheelchair and it was beside her on it's side.

"I need to go down there." Twilight side determined, she stood to her feet and strode for the door. Sunset ran up to stand next to her, the two girls exited the music room and joined the crowd rushing for the front door to see what was going on.


	33. Chapter 33

Sweetie touched her forehead dramatically, the back of her hand thrown across it like from a 18th century romance novel. She might not understand all of the words but she at least could appreciate all of the actions described in it.

"I am positive that I am going to be stunted the rest of my life!" She said, Applebloom rolled her eyes and wiped at her red nose. The crazy way her bed head and the rawness of her snout, she looked a lot like a reindeer.

"Okay so the swimming was a bad idea."  
"Understatement of the century. I still can't feel my legs." Scootaloo joked, amazingly enough it was only Applebloom who seemed to have gotten sick. Still it was between school and staying at home and having leeches stuck onto her body. She wisely chose school.

"But still I had fun." Applebloom said trying in vain to preserve the excursion. Spike merely chuckled. The trip had been fun, they had spent the rest of the night playing board games and sitting wrapped in hot quilts until it was time to be walked back home.

Plus none of them had said a word about his scars. He appreciated that, it was all in his past. They had sensed that it was a sore subject and had not prodded him about it, amazing considering how blunt they could be at times. Still they also seemed to accept things a lot quicker than other people that he had known. They just saw the scars but didn't let them affect how they viewed him as a person.

"Same here." Spike said. Scootaloo closed her mouth and seemed to be trying not to say something, veins in her neck and forehead standing out. They all waited for a second before Sweetie finally gave her release.

"What is it Scoots?"

"You're just saying that because you got to see your girlfriend in a swimsuit." She said in a rush, like a dam had burst. She then laughed and plopped her backpack onto her lap and rolled ahead of the. Spike quickly reached forward and grabbed the handles on her chair and pulled her back.

"Not getting away that easily."

"And anyway if Spike wanted to see me in a swimsuit he could ask anytime!" Sweetie said crossing her arms. Spike wasn't sure if that was a win or a lose. Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at their friend for a solid fifteen seconds before it dawned on her.

"I did not mean it like that!" She shrieked.

"What other way is there to mean it?" Applebloom said amused. The quartet exited the school, the day ended. Spike had a few errands to run for the family, Applebloom had chores, Scootaloo was going to physical therapy and Sweetie wanted to try out some new songs she had been practicing. So they were all going to be heading their separate ways soon.

They walked down the steps and towards the crosswalk right in front of the school. Some lumpy misshapen boys were digging up the yard, a girl was excitedly eating muffins with a guy in a long scarf and the sun was shining on a clear day. It was perfect. Everything was peaceful.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" Spike asked Sweetie, she smiled and squeezed his hand affectionately.  
"Bright and early." The group stood there for a moment waiting for the light to change, Spike and Sweetie held hands loosely, their faces had remained the same as they had finally gotten used to the others skin touching their own. But it didn't stop Spike's heart from beating so loud he was afraid she heard it.

Sweetie wondered if she should take her hand back to wipe the sweat off of it, there had to be sweat forming on it with how hot her palm felt resting in his. But it felt so comfortable there.

There was a screech and rev of an engine. Spike and the girls looked down the street, along with half of the student body. A large red car was gunning down the road, it had a dented bumper and both headlights out. The windows tinted so dark that they were probably painted black.

Spike froze, his hand tightened on Sweetie's so hard that she was afraid he was going to break her fingers. His fingernails were digging into his other hand. He couldn't breathe, or move, he couldn't function.

The car came barreling down the road, he followed it with his head. The crossing guard stepped out into the road and held the stop sign up, he blew a warning whistle for the car to slow down. It did not comply. He blew again before jumping out of the way as it came within inches of his feet.

The back window was rolled down, just enough for Spike to see a sunburned face smoking a cigarette. Something was launched out of the car window, something that sizzled and smoked.

"NO!" Spike shouted as he pushed Sweetie Belle over and jumped on top of her. The explosion happened three feet to their left, missing Scootaloo and Applebloom. Spike couldn't think about them, or the other kids who ran screaming as the enormous ball of high powered fireworks went off like a bat out of hell.

The screeching and booming as the rockets flew around his head felt deafening, smoke obscured his view. Spike remained on top of Sweetie Belle until he was positive it was over.

It had only taken less than thirty seconds. He slowly sat up, he had wrapped her head in his arms to cushion her. He finally realized that she was breathing in quick little gasps, her eyes rolled back in her head and her limbs limp. Applebloom stood up from where she had knocked Scootaloo's wheelchair over. Kids were slowly returning outside and emerging from hiding spots.

Everyone was shouting, confused, scared. Twilight and the principals burst out of the front door, Spike ignored everything, he was only concerned with calling Sweetie Belle's name.

 **Oh yeah, the end by the way.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Lol, jk**

Spike sat in a chair next to the nurses office, the red and blue lights of the ambulance flashed through the window and lit up her face. He could see her through the door, Rarity being her sister was the only one allowed to be with her. The girl was sitting with her little sisters hand in both of her own.  
Spike and the others had refused to leave and had basically taken over another portion of the waiting room. Twilight had an arm around his shoulders and would occasionally squeeze it. Scootaloo and Applebloom had a couple of burn marks on their shins and arms from the explosion. Fluttershy had patched them up the moment that they had walked in. The burns being serious enough to require treatment but not serious enough to go to the hospital.

Applebloom still had her pants leg rolled up exposing the angry red on her skin, it rose up in a welt the size of a quarter, like an unblinking eye. Spike's gaze went from the burn to Sweetie in the bed and back again. His eyes could not keep still. He shifted in his seat again.

The people outside were still discussing who had done it. Principal Celestia talking with police officers, calming students and trying to organize everyone for them to leave the school. Spike could hear her shouting over the hubbub of the rest of the group.

"You're certain that you didn't see who did it?" Twilight pressed Spike again, she had asked him the exact same question four times already. He looked at her concerned face, her wide frightened eyes that were normally so at ease and sweet. He wanted to tell her, he wanted to tell her everything.

But he couldn't, because he couldn't be sure. He refused to be sure.

"No. I didn't see who threw it." He said looking down, and he hadn't. All he saw was some sunburnt skin and a cigarette. People smoke all the time and for all he knew the guy had just come from underneath a tanning booth. But the car...that worried him. He wouldn't forget that goliath of terror. The way that it trembled almost as if the driver wasn't in complete control of it and was just barely holding it back...that car was too familiar for comfort.

Twilight held him closer. She felt a soft hand firmly grasp her free shoulder and squeeze it, Sunset looked over at her and smiled. Twilight gave a sad grin back. It was terrible what had happened. Twilight always thought that they lived in a fairly safe place, the neighborhood was nice, the inhabitants for the most part friendly. This just felt unprecedented. She supposed she should feel grateful that this was so out of the ordinary that she felt shaken up.

Spike watched as Fluttershy, true to her name anxiously fluttered around the people in her waiting room. She had replaced a washcloth on Sweeties head and had placed another bandage on top of Appleblooms burn mark. Her pet rabbit was watching the events unfolding on the top of the desk with a lazy cynical eye. Fluttershy stopped to pet him before disinfecting her hands and going back around to the people again.

"Relax Flutters. Sit down, she will wake up soon." Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly. While she said the words her knee was bouncing anxiously, she looked as if she would need Appleblooms stress ball soon. Fluttershy looked at her friend with a tightlipped gaze, her eyes full of tears. Spike wondered yet again how such a sensitive girl found herself working in school nurses office.

"It's just been a while." Fluttershy said nervously looking at the mildly sweating Sweetie Belle.

"It's been forever!" Pinkie Pie shouted her hair was straight and longer than it usually looked, her face appeared dimmer, she had been eerily silent up until that point. She jumped on top of a chair and began babbling wildly. "What if she doesn't wake up? Or wakes up with severe brain damage? Or wakes up and can predict the future and has to assassinate a presidential frontrunner to save us all from a horrible nuclear apocalypse!" She panted heavily her eyes wild.

"Well now that all of the crazy is out of the way..." Rainbow Dash said after a silence of a few seconds. Pinkie plopped down her head resting in Applejacks lap, the girl began stroking her hair softly.  
"I doubt that we have to worry about all that sweetheart. She'll be up soon."

"I don't know this seems long even for her." Scoot's said her hands were fiddling in her lap and she was biting her lip.

"The longest she has remained unconscious was twenty five minutes." Rarity spoke from the other room, her purple hair hanging over one of her mascara covered eye. "She has been out for fifteen minutes now. She will wake up soon." She spoke with a tired confidence, sure of her sibling.

"Who in their right mind would even throw a firework at some kids at a school?" Sunset spoke up. "I mean it just seems so pointless."

"Probably just some random thing that came out of nowhere and will probably have nothing to do with anything ever again." Spike said a little too loudly. The nervousness in his voice evident to them all. He quieted down and looked back into the room. Sweetie Belle looked so little, so soft and delicate. Spike's chest felt tight looking at her, his arms tingled like he had been electrocuted or burnt by a flame.

Suddenly as if she were a princess rising from a spell induced nap Sweetie began to stir.  
"What?" She said before she was drowned out by their voices clamoring around her. The others all tried to rush into the room only to be blocked at the doorway by Fluttershy who was anxiously trying to keep order. Sweetie shrunk back from the wall of people. Her head was grasped and she was roughly drawn to Rarity's bosom. Rarity was weeping now, wildly holding her little sister to her.

"Rarity?" Sweetie managed to squeak out, she looked around through unfocused eyes. "Applebloom? Scoots? Spike? Guy's what happened? What's going on?" Suddenly her eyes widened and she tried to sit up, remembrance returning.  
"Oh my gosh! Are you guys okay? Spike are you okay? Who were those guys? what happened? Did the police catch them?" She tried to shift around only to be forced soothingly back down onto the pillows by Fluttershy and Rarity who were making little cooing noises.

"Everyone is fine Sweetie, no the rapscallions managed to elude the authorities. But no one was hurt thank goodness." Sweetie looked around before her eyes focused on Spike.

"Are you alright Spike?" She said, she could remember him pushing her down, laying on top of her as the world exploded around them. Her eyes became large and wet, like a kicked dogs.

"Who cares? Are you okay?" He said as he slowly walked through the doorway. Sweetie smiled and took his outreached hand.  
"Thanks to you." He leaned down and pressed her hand to his lips and gave it a soft peck. Rarity brushed her sisters hair out of her forehead and petted her, relieved that she had awoken.


	35. Chapter 35

Scootaloo pulled her hand away from the weird mask on the wall once it sounded like it had hissed at her. She wheeled herself backwards smiling a little. Applebloom opened up a jar of dried plant life and took a little sniff. She made a face to match the sour smell and plopped the lid back on.

"This place gets cooler every single time I come here." Applebloom said as she looked around the strange shop. It was one part tea shop, one part alternative medicine, and one part house to a woman called Zecora. She had long twirling tribal tattoos on her body and hair that was shaved closely to resemble Spike's mohawk. She was also a master at slam poetry and continued to speak in rhymes in order to improve her art.

"Thank you Scoots and bloom, whenever I see your faces cutting through the gloom I feel almost over the moon." She said eloquently. Spike was sitting a little awkwardly on a chair that had been supplied for him, it was rickety and looked homemade, he tried not to shift his weight in fear that it would collapse.

The three girls had convinced him to look through the shop today saying that he would find something cool to entertain himself. He had seen some interesting things but nothing especially caught his eye.

Sweetie Belle had stepped outside for a brief instant to clear her head, she said the incense was making her feel a little lightheaded and that she wanted to clear her brain. Spike agreed with her, the room was full of smoke from three different candles, there were windows that allowed a lot of natural lighting in but she didn't seem to open them up at all.

Spike began to look at some flower specimens preserved in a green and yellow liquid, he tapped the glass and one of the flowers turned and he swore looked at him. He drew back in surprise.

"How long has this place been here anyway?" He said to the room at large. Zecora floated over to him, she almost seemed to glide in the air never touching the ground.

"I set up shop back home but it was too hot, so I moved here in hopes to gather more customers my dear." She held up the jar and studied the contents. "Dragons dew alive for only a few, it only moves for those who are true. Those that are dragons, not me, but perhaps you." She handed the jar to Spike and the weird little flower tilted again towards him, slithering in it's jar.

Spike was pretty certain she was just trying to sell him the weird plant, it freaked him out a little bit.

"Thanks but I'm pretty strapped in the cash department." He said handing the little jar back to her, she smiled and pushed it closer to him.

"Please I insist, for all good friends and customers occasionally deserve a gift." Spike's eyebrows raised in surprise.  
"Wow, uh thank you." He said. Applebloom popped over his shoulder and leaned against him, she whistled appreciatively at the flower.

"That's neat. Where'd you get it Zecora? Did you grow it? I bet that you made it with a magic spell! Hey did we tell you about the bombing at the school? It was intense! Look what happened to my leg!" The girl rolled up her pant leg exposing the raw red burn mark. Scootaloo wheeled herself over and pulled out her squirt bottle to spray Applebloom.

"I thought I told you to keep that bandage on. It's the only way it will heal faster." She scolded Applebloom, her eyes were hard but worried. Applebloom rolled her eyes, before laughing and dancing away as Scootaloo sprayed her with water.

"A bomb threat you say? Most dire. Who has so much ire?"

"It wasn't a bomb, it was more like a bunch of fireworks all strapped together. Shoddy work." Spike said, the bell above the door opened and Sweetie Belle walked in, she looked at the weird flower that Spike had in his hands and studied it for a bit. Her eyes inquisitive.

"It was just some stupid prank, now we can't stay out as late as usual." Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

"Yeah my parents expect me home soon." She looked at a clock and swore under her breath. "I actually have to get going." Applebloom walked over to her and grabbed the handles on her chair.

"Want me to walk you home?" Scootaloo grinned up at her and nodded. Sweetie Belle checked out the time too and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Shoot! I was supposed to be back at Rarity's an hour ago! I need to go!" She quickly embraced her friends, kissed Spike on the cheek and ran out. The others quickly following her. Spike set off too, he called back a thanks ingot he store to Zecora for the plant.

He walked down the street, a chill bit into him and he pulled his sweatshirt tighter. Ever since the fireworks thing everyone had been on edge, the school was actually postponed the other day and this was their first day back. Everyone had made it clear to him that he was to be home relatively early. Of course he was late.

Spike was crossing over a bridge that lead from town to the suburbs, the street was deserted, everyone at work, or at home. He stopped halfway across and took out his new plant. He shook the jar a little and it shifted and swam in the liquid. It was an unusual looking flower. He put it back under his coat and continued walking, his eyes out at the river and the surrounding buildings. He went three feet before he was stopped by a wall of muscle.

"Sorry." He started to apologize only to feel his breath die in his throat. His heart stopped.

He looked up at the girl in front of him and nearly died of a heart attack. She was very tall, large and very plain, her eyes were unfocused and she wore makeup, almost as if to cover up or compensate. She also had little beads bedazzled into her skin around her throat. Her snaggleteeth poked through her gums. Spike backed away as he recognized the face.

"C-C-C-Crackle." He managed to squeak out, she stood there looking at him, her muteness was killing him. He turned to run, he might be able to avoid her grip if he pushed himself. He ran face first into a portly looking guy, he growled down at Spike who could merely gaze in open mouth horror.

One last chance, he turned to the railing, about to jump off the bridge, he figured her had a ten percent chance at survival in the water, but it was better than hanging around with these two.

Three.

There was a couple of hands on his shoulders and he was spun around. This boy had bleached hair covering his eyes, it was combed down and over, he smiled and laughed as he slammed Spike back first against the railing. Spike grunted from the pain. His arms were pulled out on either side, so hard that he thought that they might be dislocated.

"You remember us right Spikey?" The fat boy said as he pulled on the littler boys arm.

"Of course he does." A confident voice said. The pain in Spikes back disappeared as he was filled with unrelenting terror. The sunburned boy walked forward, his mohawk gelled up all pointy as a pufferfish. He lit up a cigarette and took a big puff of nicotine before releasing it into Spikes face. Garble pushed Spikes head back and smiled dangerously.

"How could he forget his best friends in the whole wide world?"


	36. Chapter 36

Spike hissed as he ran the hot washcloth across his abdomen. The tears on his face were as hot as the boiling water. He could not feel his skull which was probably good as the rest of him was on fire. With breaks and bruises and cuts from where their nails had cut into him. He sat down heavily on the closed toilet seat and put his head between his knees.

He wanted to puke, or pass out, he wanted to curl up and run away all at the same time. His head pounded and he dug his fingers into his hair and scalp. His tears fell and splattered against the cool tile floor. Back at the home they only had wood, even in the bathrooms it was cheap wood that would splinter and jab you if you ran too fast.

Spike slowly slid down and lay on the floor, his body felt as heavy as his soul, his mind whirled and it was not just from the beating that he had received. He needed to think, to plan, he needed to make a list and check every single thing down. Just like Twilight would tell him to do.

His hands began to shake and spasm. With guilty fingers he reached into his pocket. He pulled out the lighter, somehow intact from the beating that he had received. He flicked it and the comforting glow expanded from the top. He ran his finger tips right over the fire. It burned and comforted him, he hissed and looked around.

Toilet paper. Toilet paper would do. He lifted the seat and pulled out a scrap of toilet paper. He brought the fire to the corner and started the blaze. IT quickly ate up the thin pieces of tampered paper and he dropped it into the watery bowl where it sizzled and ceased. He did this with three more squares. The soot and water mixed and he noticed that his nose was bleeding, a few fat drops had fallen into the water.

He would need to borrow some of Twilight's makeup without her seeing and cover up the black eye too. Luckily it had hit him low enough that it hadn't swollen up.

Spike stood back up unsteadily and began to tend to the swelling on his stomach and sides.

Those looks, they were going to kill him, they were going to hurt him so bad that they would kill him.

He remembered every single word that they said to him. He could close his eyes and be transported right back to the bridge, every second cut into his mind, it might have happened earlier that day but it felt like it had happened a few seconds ago.

"H-H-H" That was all that Spike could say as Garble pushed his head back.

"How? Easy, we committed it when we were minors. They could only hold us until we were eighteen. Guess who just had their birthday?" Garble's teeth flashed yellow and nicotine stained at him. Spike closed his eyes and turned his head away, this couldn't be real, it was just a bad dream. Soon it would change and he would be running with the others and Sweetie Belle would be there.

Almost as if he could read his thoughts Garble snickered.

"This is real Spikey boy, this is actually happening. You're here, with us. And we are gonna get whats coming to us."

"Snitches get stitches." Grunt the large boy said grinning viciously, his compatriot Clunk laughed shrilly. Crackle cracked her knuckles and looked at him with ice.

"Don't worry Spikey, we won't kill you. Yet. all we're going to do is hurt you so hard that you can't breathe, then we're gonna give you a nice ride back to your place. Oh yeah we know where you live too buddy boy." Spike felt his feet turn cold and his legs start to give out under him, he wish that he could faint and wake up and it all be over with.

They knew, they knew everything, his home, that meant they had seen who he had been hanging out with. He felt a cold finger slide up his spine. That meant that they probably knew where his friends lived too.

"I've been waiting years for this moment." Garble said as he reared his fist backwards. "Round one. Ding!"

Spike closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, he could feel every single punch. Those four were as vicious as ever, they must have been the ones in the car with the fireworks. And they would not stop.

They wouldn't kill him yet, they would make him suffer. That was just their style, make you suffer but also make sure that it wasn't evident. That was why they focused on his body and legs. He didn't take his shirt off that often already. Now he would keep it on all the time, the punches on the face were his fault, he had been struggling and they missed.

He was lucky that Clunk didn't have his knife, and that Grunt wasn't in the mood to beat him with a stick. Spike went back to washing himself. A dab here and a pat there and he was pretty sure that most of the swelling had disappeared.

He opened the mirror and took out some of Twilights make up base, she didn't wear it often so he should be able to use most of it. He spread it under his eye and a little on the side of his nose. It would do if no one looked too closely. Spike took the rags and gathered them up, he would need to wash them before anyone got home.

He quickly got downstairs and threw them in the washing machine, he started it up just when he heard the front door slam. For all of the talk about being home early Spike had lucked out. Shining Armor was coming home so his parents had gone to pick him up and Twilight was tutoring some kids. She must have just gotten back.

He went back upstairs to find her sitting at the table. She looked up at Spike and smiled.  
"Hey Spike! How was your day?" He wanted to break down and tell her right then and there. He wanted to hug her and probably ruin her blouse with snot and just have her tell him that it was all going to be okay.

But he knew those four. And they would never ever stop.

All he could do was smile and go to her and hug her. She jumped a little, surprised by the contact, but she wrapped her slender arms around him and squeezed back.

"It was fine." he said muffled against her. He pulled back and started upstairs, his ribs had started to hurt him and he needed a nap.

Twilight watched as he headed upstairs, a little confused. He seemed more worn down than usual. She looked at her shirt, there was a little smudge of brown on it. She wiped it off with a finger and held it up to her eye.

"Make up?"

The four teens sat around the parking lot, Garble needed more cigarettes and the rest were antsy after the first fight. Clunk was toying with a jar, turning it back and forth in his hands. Garble got agitated after he had not said a word for close to five minutes.

"Well? What is it?" He said aggressively and snatched it from the boys hands. He looked at it, some sort of flower it looked like. "Where did you get this piece of junk?"

"Spike dropped it just before we got him in the car." Clunk gave a little snicker, "The look on his face when we dropped him back home. Priceless!"

Garble frowned as he looked at the flower, if it was Spikes than they might be able to do something with it. Still to him it looked like a hunk of junk.

 **The names Grunt and Clunk are just because the brown dragon and purple dragon don't technically have names in the show and these seemed to fit.**


	37. Chapter 37

"Yo Spike!" A slap across his back caused the boy to nearly jump out of his skin. The bruises across his back and chest created a minefield that one wrong touch would explode in shockwaves of pain.

"You okay there guy?" Scootaloo asked rolling up to Applebloom and a wincing Spike.

"Oh yeah, totally never better." He lied through gritted teeth. His knees were quivering like jello and it was all that he could do not to fall over into a ball on the floor. Scootaloo gave him a long hard look before nodding.

"So crazy about those goons huh?" Applebloom started the conversation rolling. It had been a few days but they all still talked about the random firework attack.

"Oh yeah...crazy." Spike said absentmindedly before yawning.

"You know for a guy who claims to sleep a lot you sure are tired a lot of the time." Applebloom noticed and pointed it out.

"Really? I guess I am." Spike said shifting his eyes uncomfortably.  
"Do you think that they'll attack us again?" Applebloom said excitedly. Scootaloo had the water bottle out ahead of time and she squirted her friend in the back of her head, narrowly missing her bow.

"They won't attack us specifically genius, it was just some weird fluke. I bet they egg the school or something though." Scootaloo said self-assured. Spike had stiffened the entire time that they were talking, not saying a word. His back straight as a ruler and his eyes wide with fear.

"What's the matter you afraid of a couple of jerks or something?" Applebloom asked the boy giving him a crack across the back. Spike snapped out of it and for a moment his reprise broke and the mask that he had been wearing was gone. His face contorted into pain and his fists clenched, the nails biting into the meat of his palms. They left several white half-moon imprints.

"Yeah. Yeah I really am." He snapped at the country girl. For an instant he could see it, all of the ways that he could completely and utterly break her. Point out all of the country bumpkins flaws and leave her a crying mess on the floor of the school hallway. He bit his tongue, he could imagine it, her red embarrassed face, as bright as her bow, her eyes wide with tears and her fists clenching her ears in denial and rage.

And they would hate him. They would all hate him and he would be alone.

"Man it sounds like you should get a nap in or something." Scootaloo said breaking the uncomfortable pressure that had been building around the trio for a few seconds.  
"I probably should." Spike admitted, he had gotten very little sleep last night, with the nightmares and the memories flooding back to him and on top of that waking up early to apply more makeup before anyone else. Twilight might be getting wise, she had been giving him strange looks over the breakfast table that morning.

The three had gotten to the choir room, where Sweetie Belle was, as usual practicing her vocal warm ups. She stopped when the three of them entered and skipped over with a little hum. She smiled and embraced Spike, she felt him stiffen in her arms before giving a curt pat to her back. They all went to sit down, Applebloom turning a chair around to lean on the back rest, Scootaloo looking out the window and Spike laying against the wall. Sweetie smoothed out her skirt and sat with her back on Spikes chest his legs on either side of her.

He shifted before she finally relaxed again on his chest.

"You feel softer than normal, squishy." Sweetie said up to him, Spike just shrugged, he wondered if maybe they had broken a rib the other day. He wouldn't have put it past them to do so.

"So hows the plant doing?" Applebloom asked Spike, he shrugged.

"So so." In all honesty he had lost the plant, it hadn't even come to his mind until the girl just mentioned it to him that very second. A shame, it had looked really cool, not to mention it also needed very little care as if twas basically in a fluid. Applebloom smiled, her grin wide and dazzling.

"Well if you ever need any help with it just ask, I'm a natural gardener if you didn't know."

"Working on a farm to mass produce apples and keeping a small flower alive is entirely different." Scootaloo said snarking at her friend. Applebloom frowned before sticking her tongue out at her wheelchair bound friend.

"Hey where are you two going on your first date?" Applebloom said suddenly her eyes popping over to the two cuddling teens. Spike looked down at Sweetie Belle who's eyes suddenly widened in realization.  
"Whoa, we haven't even had a first date!"  
"There was sugar cube corner."  
"That doesn't count, we became a couple there, we didn't have like a 'date' date." Spike honestly had no idea what the difference between the two could possibly even be. He looked into her eyes and tried for a smile. He needed to try and convince them that everything was totally normal, and anyways if he did end up killed then he wanted to go on at least one date before that.

"Well lets go out sometime. To an actual restaurant or something." Sweetie Belle squealed and grabbed his head and kissed him on the lips, hard.

"Oh gross now they're kissing." Grunt said as he pulled his eyes from the binoculars. Clunk snickered as he tended to the small flower in the jar, he had been holding onto the thing for a few days now and it was starting to get on Garbles nerves.

"Are the three chicks still with him?" He said aggressively, the boy looked back through the field glasses and nodded.  
"Yeah the redneck, the cripple and the other one are with him...why?"  
"Don't question me." Garble said smacking his friend in the side of the head. "We're going to find out where they live, they're day to day schedules, all of that fun stuff. Remember what the end game here is."

"They go to a public school, it should be pretty easy to nose them out." Clunk said another swipe to his head and he was sullenly looking through the binoculars at Spike who was smiling sadly as the pink and purple haired girl was babbling in his arms about something or other.

He couldn't tell, he couldn't read lips.


	38. Chapter 38

The first bell rang and Spike walked out to class. Sweetie had an arm around his waist and they were doing a sort of sideways hug walk thing he had seen people do in the movies and once or twice in real life. He couldn't understand why they did it, his arms were tired and he was afraid that he might have been sweating on her a bit. Sweetie did not seem to mind it though so he went along.

"I've got to go, first period." She said before untangling herself and walking away. Spike turned and started on his own path. He had not done the homework, been too caught up with applying stinging antibiotics and makeup that felt like pancake batter to care about reading a book written by a guy a billion years ago. He would probably coast through that class, the one that he was really dreading was gym.

Rainbow Dash would instantly know that something was up if he went too slow. He could just imagine how much pain he was going to be in by the end of the day. His muscles clenched up in anticipation to the ripping and burning sensation that would soon come around.  
And Rainbow Dash would be nothing compared to the ferocity that was a competitive Scootaloo, the girl would break him apart if she thought he was holding back on her. Better to get injured working out than to hold anything back.

He turned the corner to the hallway to his next class when he saw her. She was a solid head taller than anyone else in the hallway. She was standing by the window so all of her features were lit up. Her eyes seemed to focus in on him, laser's digging into his skin and slowly taking him apart. He was a frog underneath a sharp knife, slowly but steadily being sliced and labeled. Her thick hands clenched and unclenched, the tattoos and gems that had been painfully imbedded into them flashed.

He had seen those hands rip a groundhog apart, the entire time it had screamed. He didn't even know that animals besides humans could scream. Her sharpened nails had gouged out it's eyes.

Crackles poorly lipsticked mouth parted and she panted at him. Her crooked teeth sharp and glazed with a thin layer of spittle. She snapped them together, she would use them, he could just tell. When they finally came to destroy him she would use those teeth to make him scream long and loud.

Spike slowly began to walk backwards, never taking his eyes off of her.  
'Why doesn't anyone notice?' He wanted to shout and point her out, to accuse her and then run. The teachers would tackle her, she would struggle and the police would come. She would talk and he would talk and they would be put back in prison where they belonged and he would be safe and he could go back to his home and live a normal life-

-but she would bolt at the first signal that he was even thinking that. She would jump out the window, if they caught her she would break their spines. Even Bulk Biceps spine. She would escape and they would be even more angry. And then they would hurt him even worse. Or something totally unthinkable. Hurt someone else.

He slipped quietly around the corner, he was going to run and he was going to escape and then they would not catch him in the school at least. He turned around and jumped.

Only to crash directly into a purple and red smear. The three of them fell to the ground with cries of pain and surprise. Twilight pulled her arm out from under Sunset Shimmer and the redheaded girl sat up with a wide look of surprise.

"Whoa! What's your hurry kid?" The older teen asked him.

"Sorry!" Spike said quickly standing up and helping the two of them to their feet. "I was just in a hurry to get to class."

"Your class is in the opposite direction." Twilight pointed out. Spike's eyes darted from side to side he opened his mouth to speak, his head poking around the corner.

She was gone, a window was open and she had disappeared. He never knew how a girl her size could do that, especially with the little groans and moans she would give out at random moments.

"So it is." Spike said attempting to move the conversation along. "I guess that I should probably go to it then." He slowly turned and smiled sheepishly at the two of them, waiting for them to leave.

"Well hurry up! You don't want to miss the next bell." Twilight urged the boy. Spike's heart sunk, he would not be able to escape at this time. He would need to power through the rest of the day. He turned and walked away.

At least he still had his date with Sweetie Belle that night, she had wanted to wait until the weekend, but he had pushed and insisted that it be sooner. He didn't know whether or not he would make it that long.

"Did something seem off with Spike to you?" Twilight asked Sunset, the redhead nodded. Her face set yet inquisitive, she always appreciated a good mystery.

"Was he wearing makeup?"

"It looked that way to me, also the day before too."

"Why would he wear makeup?"

"Maybe it brushed off from someone?" Twilight ventured to guess, Sunset pondered this for a moment, cupping her chin in thought.  
"But the only one that he would be close enough to for it to wipe off is from Sweetie Belle."  
"Oh some on, they aren't that close...are they?" Twilight asked suddenly horrified, suddenly worried, a maternal instinct kicking in and her natural anxious mind jumped to a million paranoid ideas.


	39. Chapter 39

"So tell me something about you I don't know." Sweetie said as she sat across from Spike. The two of them were in the fanciest restaurant in town. That the two could afford, that accepted cash.

The two of them had met at Sweetie's house, for an hour and a half after school she had run around the Boutique freaking out about what to wear. Pulling dresses off of the racks and generally making a mess of Rarity's store. Applebloom and Scootaloo had been with her trying to help and had made an even bigger mess than usual.

Rarity eventually had to step in to keep them from destroying any thing else that she held dear. After vetoing thirty eight outfits that she deemed either too adult( A red cocktail dress that had a slit up the thigh and stopped at about halfway to the knees.) or too childish (An enormous yellow and white dress that had bows and a train that she had been commissioned to make by an avid church goer.) Eventually Sweetie had settled on a white button up shirt that had a pink heart over her own, a pink skirt that reached her ankles and two inch high heels. Rarity had said that any higher and she would trip and break open her cranium.

It had almost happened to Applebloom who was wearing twelve inch high heels. Why Rarity owned some that tall she never divulged.

Spike had worn a purple button up and black slacks. He had to borrow dress shoes from Shining Armor's closet, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt Spike.

The restaurant was Italian. Called Cavallo Di Pascollo. Neither knew what it meant but it had accepted the reservations so last minute that they had taken it. The place was small, not a hole in the wall, but rather nondescript. There was a mural of horses running in a green pasture on the back wall and a large open window across the front of the restaurant. IT being a Monday evening they had the place to themselves. Except for a Quartet that had come in and was seated nearby. But they were all wearing either sunglasses and headscarves or had a menu in front of their faces so he could not see who they were.

And Spike did not want to. He had come for a date with Sweetie and he was going to have a great of one as he possibly could. He had chosen to expel all thoughts of the four people following and threatening him from his mind, for the evening at least.

"I don't know I'm a pretty open book." Spike responded. Sweetie smiled gently and leaned forward.

"Come on. Make it fun, I want to know more about you. Tell me something, anything." Spike shrugged and shifted in his seat.

"Honest Indian I have very little to tell you. I'm Pawnee, but you already know that...this is how my hair naturally grows still not sure why, I was adopted by Twilight's family last year and was homeschooled to catch up."

"Why did you need to catch up?"

"What is this twenty questions?"

"IT could be. OOOHHH it should be!" Spike smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Okay then fine, I didn't get any kind of education past fifth grade, there was one public school in town and I was barred from it." Sweetie looked interested at this and leaned forward.

"Some sort of torrid event? Was it horrendous? Unspeakable?"

"What are you a dictionary?"

"Won the state spelling bee three years in a row." She said triumphantly and also rather smugly.  
"Okay then I'll tell you if you tell me a secret."

"Ugh fine, mister can't tell his girlfriend everything. What is with guys and trying to act all mysterious?"

"I'm not acting mysterious, I just don't talk about my past all that often. But here is what happened, I lived in a home for a few weeks before getting transferred to the local orphanage. While there I was put in a room with some well 'cellmates' is a good term. Anyway the point is that they punished everyone for any little mistake, bed not made? No dessert, talking back? Everyone looses their blankets. Well someone set a fie in a trashcan and the entire room was expelled from school."

"That doesn't sound fair at all!" Sweetie said aghast, she almost stood up, as if to complain to the head of the school about how unfair it was. "Who even set the fire?"

"Don't know, never found out." Spike said moving his eyes to the nearby table. A girl, he was positive it was a girl had quickly whipped her head away as if she were listening in.

"Now you tell me something." Sweetie sat down and puffed her cheeks, she blew out and made little popping sounds.

"I've kissed Scoots and Applebloom on a dare."  
"Really? What are you bi or something?"  
"No. Well those two are so gay for each other it's not even funny. But it was just a dare."  
"Wait they're both gay?" Spike said honestly surprised. Sweetie began to giggle, her face lighting up.  
"You have zero gaydar huh?"

"Come on give me another one." Spike said excitedly.  
"Question or secret?"  
"Both either. When did you first faint?" Sweetie twiddled her thumbs and looked down. He instantly regretted the question. "Oh man, I didn't mean to-"  
"It's fine, it's also not a secret, just you know, the past. I fainted when I was a baby for a few months, it went away for a long time after that. But when I was in kindergarten I had a massive attack, sort of like it was waiting for me. I was singing with some other kids when a spider fell on my hair. I freaked out, everyone after that stayed pretty far away from me. I didn't even sing for years afterwards."

Spike touched her hand comfortingly. "You have such a nice voice though." She smiled at him and covered his hand with her own. There was a commotion from the other table, a couple of the girls were moving as if trying to stand up and the other two were holding them back.

"Thanks, my question then, and better make it quick, I see our food coming." She said with a mischievous grin.  
"Lay it on me."  
"Do you love me?" She said, her grin impishly wicked. Spike froze, he heard harsh whispering from the nearby table, finally he nodded.  
"I think so, I honestly think that I do."

Two plates piled with spaghetti and a smaller dish of salad was placed in front of them. Sweetie smiled over the steam, her face red from blushing.

"Wait I'm confused...didn't you think he loved you at one point?" Sunset whispered across to Rarity who was hiding her face in her napkin. She looked up and smiled.

"Puppy love darling. Mere puppy love."

"This is insane." Applejack muttered, she had been the one trying to talk them out of stalking their younger siblings as they went on their first date. Especially seeing as she had chores int he morning and then school, but of course she had been dragged along since Pinkie said she was meeting with her probably imaginary boyfriend and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had their own date. She had been drafted to even out the group.

"Yeah but come on, this would make a terrific soap opera." Sunset said as she played with Twilight's hand underneath a napkin.


	40. Chapter 40

**So y'all are probably going to hate me by the end of this. So go ahead and scream or complain or whatever you wanna do in the reviews.**

They had been in his room. They had taken his comics and left a note, they knew where he lived and had broken into his home. Spike shivered as he walked from the boys changing room. He could just imagine the four of them. Sneaking in like a quartet of shadows. Their intentions as dark as their souls.

Taking his things, flipping his stuff over. Pocketing some spare change and then leaving that bone chilling note.

He had memorized every line before he burned it.

We know where you sleep

Be thankful we didn't stay to wail on you

Sweet dreams

They could have waited and jumped him before he had went to bed. Thrown him in a sack and just ran. But that would have meant taking away some of his terror. And they wanted him as scared as they could possibly make him. Spike wanted to lay down and cry. So little sleep, he was probably going to be stunted for life after all of this was over.

Any happiness or contentment he had gotten after his date had vanished as quickly as the sun behind the days rainclouds.

The day was overcast and raining, Scootaloo had to towel her chair off when the four of them had arrived. The hallways were humid and crowded, kids were squelching and pushing. The teachers grumbled and even normally perky Pinkie Pie who would have been dancing and splashing in the puddles, at least raising some peoples spirits; had been unusually somber that day. So everyone was down in the dumps.

Spike walked into the gym, it was cold, all of the heat was at the ceiling. The drills were simple, mostly just working out and running, not even the teachers wanted to bother with their jobs that day.

Scootaloo was balancing in place. Her eyes locked on her foot. She was biting her lips and focusing intently on making it wiggle. It would twitch, occasionally spasm. But there would be no movement. She huffed before nodding as he walked over.

"You look terrible."

"Thanks I feel it too." He snapped at her. He found his teeth together as he stood next to her. "I just don't see the point of school today, I am totally done."  
"Date went that well huh?" She said with a grin. Spike couldn't help but return it. No matter what else had happened once he got home he had to be honest. The date had been a blast, dinner, walk, appreciating a street musician. It had been simple and spur of the moment and he loved every moment of it.

"Okay yeah it was a blast." He admitted grinning and looking at the ground.  
"Now theres the smile I like to see every day. Brightens up my life. Spikey boy you are my bread and butter." Scootaloo exclaimed, Spike laughed at her genuine silliness. She might not have the energy of Pinkie Pie, but her snark could give him a bit of a lift.

"You are so weird." He said she pushed his arm playfully.

"That is the exact word that I would have chosen."

"That and lame, loser, freak, cripple, and future Fried Chicken Fast Food Chain employee." And just like that Spike's good mood was ruined. The two girls were standing almost back to back. Hands on their hips and smirks in place. Their hair seemed a little frizzy today, the humidity and hairspray combination had been a bad idea.

"Oh look it's the terrible twins. What do you stalkers want?" Scootaloo said with a grimace.  
"Oh just wanted to say hi to our favorite resident wheelchair." Diamond Tiara said striding forward, Silver Spoon took out her phone and began typing something up. Probably looking up some new way to insult them.

Spike took a deep calming breath. "Look, I had a great date last night, and today is horrible enough to even out my life, why don't you two take the day off and talk with your only friends. Each other." He finished. Silver Spoon looked him up and down before she spoke.

"Like we're actually gonna take advice from a pyromaniac." Spike stiffened, his heart started beating faster, he could see her. The woman, the overseer, judge, jury and executioner for the orphanage.

"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"A few years ago, a group of kids were expelled from a school for setting a fire. And we have their names. Guess who was the prime suspect?" Silver Spoon said holding her phone up for him to see. She waved it a little but he could see. His name, Crackles name, Grunt, Clunk, and Garble...he could see as plain as day.

Then the world was tinted in red.

He reached and roughly grabbed for the phone. Silver Spoon held on to it with all of her might. She was saying something, probably along the lines of 'not again! Not again!' But he couldn't hear. He was too focused. His arm snaked out and he roughly pushed her in the chest with one hand. She slipped and fell backwards landing on her back. Spike took the phone and whipped it across the room. It hit the cement wall and exploded.

"What's your problem!" Diamond Tiara shouted and hit his shoulder. He clenched his jaw, she had hit a bruise, it had been cut open by their beating. He grabbed her by the shoulders and physically slammed her into the wall. She gasped and a clang echoed through the room.

"WOULD YOU TWO JUST LEAVE US ALONE!" He shouted in her face. Her eyes were wide, tears had formed, he could feel her tiny shoulders shivering in the palms of his hands. He squeezed them tightly and she shrieked in fear.

"SPIKE! STOP!" He blinked and looked behind him, a squirt of water splashed him in the face. He blinked again. Scootaloo was three feet away, her bottle up and shaking in her hand. Shaking in fear. Her eyes were wide and her torso trembled.

Scootaloo was afraid of him. Of him. Spike looked back at Diamond Tiara, the girl flinched as if he was going to hit her. The class had gathered around, someone was helping a disheveled Silver Spoon off of the floor. Her glasses were crooked and one braid had come undone. He dropped his arms and stepped away.

Diamond Tiara quickly ducked and ran to where her friend was standing. They embraced and backed away.

"Spike." A cold voice spoke up, icy and rough. Rainbow Dash walked through the crowd. Bulk Biceps shouldering his way behind her. Her eyes were narrowed and her arms were crossed. She was serious, and that was the most frightening thing he had ever seen her be.

"The office. Now."  
"I-"

"NOW!"  
"YYYYYYEEEEAAAAHHHHH!"


	41. Chapter 41

His hands were in his lap, Spike played with his thumbs. Running one over the other and then flicking the tip. It calmed him, it was the closest that he could get to calm without whipping out his lighter. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

He could hear them talking in there. That was the scary part, they were talking about him and he wasn't in there. He had been yelled at, dozens of times, hundreds of times. He had sat there and taken it and that had been that. But now, now it wasn't his fate, or his choice or him defending himself. It was his adopted parents vouching for his innocence. And the entire time they were speaking softly, quietly. In fact the only shouting had been from Twilight, she had barged in the moment she heard he was in trouble.

She was almost foaming at the mouth and raving at Celestia, he had never seen her that upset before. She had to be told multiple times to leave. That this was a grown up problem. He knew how much she hated being reminded that she was still young. She probably would have sat down next to him on the bench but vice principal Luna had insisted that she leave the outer office as well.

So there he sat. Alone, and listening. He wished he had a cellphone, something to communicate with someone with. Text or call Applebloom, explain himself to Scootaloo, even get in contact with Sweetie Belle to make sure that she was okay.

Luna quickly walked out of her own adjoining office and hurried past him. She looked frizzled, fatigued from dealing with not only Diamond Tiara's parents but also Silver Spoon's. They had not been as quite as Mr and Mrs Sparkle. He could almost hear every word. The two girls had been sent off to the rest of their classes.

It was almost the end of the day and he had gone to two classes total. And he had only seen Sweetie Belle at the very beginning. Suddenly he remembered. She was also in the building. With her bedazzled face and neck. Crackle. The golem of a girl could be anywhere in the building. And here he was stuck in one single place, waiting for a punishment that might never come.

He stood up, than sat down, he wrung his hands together. He was shivering. He needed it, maybe not set anything a light. But just...he snuck his hand into his pants pocket and slowly slid the tube out. It was so small, he sloshed it back and forth and heard the gasoline swirl inside. He looked around and then he brought his thumb up.

He wanted to flick it, so badly, he wanted the world to disappear and it just be him and the lighter, just him and that spark that could destroy a building. He brought his thumb up. Then he lowered it, slowly. He wanted to.

But he couldn't. He was in school. And in enough trouble already. He looked forlornly down at the little piece of metal and plastic as it sat in the palm of his hand.

Suddenly he heard the door behind him open. It creaked and he looked up. Standing there, in all her glory was Principal Celestia, the towering woman looked down on him. Her normally bright cheery face solemn, a frown across her forehead. Her eyes widened and he looked down. Quickly he shoved the lighter back into his pocket.

A tap on the shoulder and a short sentence followed.

"Give it here." Her hand was held out, fingers impeccably filed, but with ink beneath the nails and smudges on the palms. He couldn't get into more trouble. Trembling he eased it out. He looked at it and squeezed it before dropping it into her outstretched hand. She grasped it like a mad viper, her face set even harder.

She turned and walked back into the room. She looked among them and he heard every word, he was sitting over the railing of the bench and looking in.

"This cinches it. I am sorry Mr and Mrs Sparkle, but with the pressure and the outburst...not to mention bringing this...this contraband to school we have no other choice but to expel Spike until further notice."

The floor was falling out from underneath him. Everything, everything that he ever wanted was coming undone.

Vice Principal Luna looked at her older sister as she sat back in her chair and massaged her eyes. She looked so downtrodden, absolutely and utterly drained. From the way she looked at her she must have looked just as terrible.

"Was it necessary?" She asked her older sister. Celestia nodded but said nothing. "Was it really?"

"He attacked the girl and brought a lighter to school Luna, we had to be firm about this."

"I think what you mean to say is that the girls family's wanted discipline." Celestia looked up and ground her teeth.

"You know how I feel about those two, but there is nothing I can do. All four of them are on the Teacher Parent board and they donate so much that the rest of the board would do whatever they wanted. We're lucky we missed a lawsuit."

"It just isn't fair, that poor boy. And you spent so much time with him over the summer to make sure that he was caught up with his peers." Celestia did not respond, all she could do was try not to cry while looking down at the thousand new smudges all over the papers that needed to be signed and mailed by tomorrow morning.


	42. Chapter 42

Fluttershy held the pillow up as Twilight screamed into it. They were in the nurses office and had been for the past few hours, Principal Celestia would probably have a conniption if she found out that they had been skipping class, but since they all had good attendance they figured they would be able to get out of it just this once.

Rainbow Dash entered the room, the small nurses office was filled to the brim with the girls. Most were there for Twilight as emotional support, others had heard about what happened and figured they would find her either there or in the library. And also Fluttershy sent out a mass text begging for help to deal with a half sobbing half ragging Twilight who was debating whether or not to storm back into the meeting.

She pulled her head out of the pillow, her eyes were red and wet, her face flushed red as a tomato, her hair sprung out in long matted curls.  
"I should go back in there right now! He's my little brother! Who does they think they are?!"

"The principal and your parents probably." Rainbow Dash said bluntly as she sat down next to Applejack who gave the girl a stink eye. The room became quiet and everyone turned to look between Rainbow and Twilight. The girl stood there trembling slightly as she looked at the relaxed at ease instructor.

"So what did they say?" Applejack spoke up in order to break the silence.

"Eh they mostly just wanted me to tell them what happened, what I saw, which wasn't much but enough to be damning if I do say so myself." Rainbow Dash said offhandedly, carelessly. Fluttershy flinched and visibly shrunk away from Twilight who was seething, and almost seemed to be growing every second in anger.

"You really just don't know when to quit do you?" Applejack said as she tipped her hat back on her head.

"You were in the office? With her? And my parents?"

"Yeahhhhhh, Bulk had to make sure that the class proceeded and he sent me to tell what I saw."

"And you didn't even try to defend him or anything I bet." Twilight hissed out icily. Pinkie Pie had joined Fluttershy the two slowly backing up and out of the way of Twilight's wrath. They huddled beneath the desk with the top of Pinkies wild mass of curls peeking out over the top. Fluttershy picked up a kitten that she had brought in with her, the little orange and black fur ball kneaded into the girls lap.

Rainbow Dash stood up defensive, her red eyes narrowed and she spoke through gritted teeth.

"I did my job, I made a promise to the school that I would do my job. It isn't my fault that your brother went nuts." Twilight stood frozen for a moment before she launched herself forward with outstretched hands, curled into claws.

"BRING IT!" Rainbow Dash shouted getting into a kung fu move she had seen on TV a million times.

"STOP IT!" Sunset shouted jumping between the two girls and grappling with Twilight while Applejack wrapped her muscled arms around Rainbow Dash and picked her up off of the ground. Twilight clawed around Sunset and looked as if she were trying to get an arm around her. Rainbow Dash struggled and hissed in Applejack's stoic grasp. The farm girls muscled arms didn't even look tired. She waited until Rainbow went limp as a rag doll and waited a few extra seconds for good measure.

Twilight was incomprehensible as she shouted past Sunset's bright red face at the limp Rainbow Dash. Her threats turned into grunts and then into sobs. She finally stopped and just stood there, her arms on either side of Sunsets shoulders. She leaned against the girl and rested her head on Sunsets chest. She wrapped her arms around the girl and just stood there sobbing.

Sunset wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her close making little soft cooing noises to get her to calm down.

"It's alright, everything is going to be just fine."

"Man these guys overreact to every little thing huh?" Pinkie whispered to Fluttershy who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yesterday you cried for an hour and a half because fish don't have legs." Pinkie Pie waved her off before wiping away a tear.

"That's different they can't walk. It was more important." Pinkie Pie said waving it off. Fluttershy rolled her eyes. She did think that her friends were being a bit overdramatic but still she could understand their worry.

"What happened anyway?" Pinkie said as she put her elbows on the desk and leaned over it looking into the room. Rainbow Dash shrugged before speaking.

"Honestly I have no idea, I was across the room with Big B discussing the activities for the day when we heard some shouting and a scuffle. Everyone else had gotten there first. All I really saw was Spike pushing Diamond Tiara against a wall and Silver Spoon pushed to the ground. Honestly I think he did it."

"Ludicrous!" Twilight shouted before crossing her arms and glaring around the room. "Spike would never be so...so violent! I know him and he isn't like that at all."

"Still how well do we know Spike?" Pinkie said she slowly rose up and stood on the desk. "I mean I for one have never heard him say a thing about his life before coming here, he keeps dodging the subject." Twilight opened her mouth to argue before she closed it and thought. Pinkie was right, she had comforted Spike once or twice at night. And she had asked him a few questions but he always seemed to skirt around them, never giving a straight answer.

"For all we know he's an exdrug lord who is actually fifty five years old, owns a private island full of horses and brought pugs across the border to sell for a profit and has been across the ocean and cut off guys fingers and-!" Rarity cleared her throat and stood up from where she had been sitting quietly while the entire episode had been going on.

She took a sip from her water bottle before speaking.

"I for one do not think that sounds like Spike at all. The Spike I know is sweet, caring, a little Naive and has to be taught a few lessons yes. But violent? Malicious? Pugs?" She raised an eyebrow and Pinkie had the decency to look ashamed, she slowly stepped off of the table and rubbed her arm.

"I think the boy has been leaving a few things out from his past, and we deserve to know what is happening, we could help him. We are his friends after all." There was a series of nods around the room.

"I'm sorry for being so dramatic." Twilight said to the room at large. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head before she looked at her friend.

"Sorry for basically testifying against your brother."

"I overreacted, you were just doing your job." Twilight said smiling comfortingly at her friend. The room was silent for a few minutes as they all stood in a loose circle looking around at each other. They were going to figure out what happened with Spike and the girls. Or die trying at least.

 **Sorry for how lame this chapter was. I am a terrible writer. Please read and thank you for all of the reviews!**


	43. Chapter 43

"You are not to leave this house, you are not to leave this room, you are to sit here and either study or do chores. I have completed the list and it is sitting on the kitchen counter. We are very disappointed in you young man and we will be having another discussion about all of this once we get back home from work. No one is allowed over, and you are to not talk to anyone." Night Light finished crossing his arms and moving so that his wife could look in at Spike.

He had woken up with his alarm that he had forgotten to turn off and had sat in bed until they had entered to lecture him. Again.

"I will be home early to check on you Spike. And we will talk about this." She looked at him, he remained where he was, laying in his bed. Not moving and not blinking. She looked as if she wanted to go over and talk to him, but she could not. She just couldn't.

"I'll see you later." She softly closed the door behind her as she stepped out. Spike could hear the two cars starting in the driveway and than putt away softly down the road. Twilight had left earlier that day. So luckily he had avoided a lecture from her. He waited a few more seconds just to be certain that they weren't coming back. Sometimes they would forget their coffee, or some important folder or something.

When it seemed as if he was in the clear Spike jumped out of bed. Fully dressed, with his jeans and purple sweatshirt, he even had on his green sneakers. He pulled open his closet and began riffling through it. He pulled out a beaten up suitcase and his backpack. He yanked open the drawers to his dresser and started to yank out shirts, pants, a few socks, enough underwear to last him a lifetime and his comic books. He stuffed the clothing into his suitcase and began to throw a pad of paper and pencils with his comics into his backpack. Twilight always told him to carry paper and pencil with him just in case. In case of what he wasn't sure but it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

He stuffed his pockets with coins that he had been saving and began to debate whether or not to pack food from the fridge. For all he knew Canada didn't have any food.

That was the best destination he had in mind. The very tip of Canada. He doubted that the others had passports and he could probably sneak across the borders undetected. Then all he would need to do is get a job on a lobster boat or as a lumberjack, spend the next twenty years growing a beard and muscles and then maybe return to the family. That is if he didn't die on the way or the job thing didn't pan out.

Spike rushed downstairs and began preparing a couple of sandwiches, two peanut butter and jellys and two ham with swiss. Chips on top for the crunch. He looked around wildly for any rock candy. Than he remembered, Twilight Velvet and Night Light had confiscated it all and put it in their room.

He tiptoed up the stairs, not knowing why as no one was home, still it made him feel cool. He opened their bedroom door and quickly slipped in. There it was, a small pile of rock candy on the bed. He walked over and took three juicy looking pieces.

He turned to leave and froze.

On the chiffarobe was a small stack of bills. It was rolled into a tight bundle. Even if it was just fives there had to be around two hundred of them. Spike licked his lips. He had only seen that much green cash in one place once before. He reached for it, he wanted to feel the dollars rub against his fingertips, he wanted to sniff and taste and look for jewelry. He knew Twilight had some in her room so the same must be true with Velvet. If he dug around he could probably find some more cash in Night Light's closet. Or just grab some dress shoes and pawn them...if he recalled Shining Armor had left some fancy metals here the last time he had visited.

Back in the home he had heard some kids had pawned their siblings or friends for a pretty penny. Yeah he would just need to pocket this stack, root around for the rest of the stuff, maybe steal some of Twilight's older books and Shining Armors metals and then...and then...

He dropped his hand.

Then he would be homeless and they would hate him. Even more than they did now.

He wiped at his eyes, tears were forming there. He didn't want to run away, he wanted to go back underneath his comforter, the first blanket that actually kept him warm, and just sleep until all of his troubles were gone. He wanted to unpack and do the chores, and study and than sit down and explain himself and where he got the lighter. And he wanted to tell them about the roving gang of psychopaths in the neighborhood.

But he couldn't, they would kill them if he squealed.

Spike put the candy back he didn't deserve anything sweet

He went downstairs and stopped by the mantle, there was a long complex and well made group of photos. Here was Twilight in middle school winning a science fair prize, he wished that he had been there to see it. Another was Shining Armor swearing in, here was a family picture, Shining Armor in shorts and Twilight so young she still wore pigtails. And next to it...

Next to it was a picture of Spike and the family, they had just gotten back to the house. He looked amazed at the size of it. They were crowded around him, Twilight hugging him and Shining Armor messing up his mohawk. The parents were laughing, they had burst out into great fits of laughter, he thought it must have been from joy.

He wouldn't take one, he wanted to. But it would be unfair to them, they were the family now. He was just the guy who bungled into their lives and was now politely leaving.

He left via the back door and locked it with his key. He pocketed it. He would look at it sometimes instead of photographs.

He began to march down the street, he was pretty sure that he was heading north, anyways it would be out of town.

A car a block away began to follow after him. Slowly. Taking it's good sweet time. It didn't notice two girls who were crouching behind a bush and running behind him, a little closer. And not nearly as stealthily.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn't notice the car that Crackle and Garble sat in, their eyes glued to the boy walking away from the only place he could call home.


	44. Chapter 44

"We should really be back at school Diamond!" Silver Spoon whined next to her only friend as the two stalked the boy down the sidewalk. He was so far completely oblivious to them tracking him.

"This is totally worth it, so shut up."

"But we shouldn't be here." She begged. She was a little scared, no matter what usually happened they would at least be in school. But now they were breaking a major rule for kids their age. And on top of that neither of them had phones. Diamond Tiara had left hers at home to recharge and Silver Spoon's was still broken after the little psycho's assault.

They were just lucky he hadn't bitten off one of their ears or something. And now here they were stalking him, it seemed as if they were just asking for trouble.

"Where do you think he's going?" Diamond Tiara said suspiciously as he walked down the sidewalk. He seemed to have some kind of destination in mind, but she couldn't tell where. And why did he have all of that stuff with him? Maybe he was robbing those people? That would certainly be juicy gossip. And if there was one thing that she loved it was spreading some juicy gossip.

They kept on tailing the boy, he seemed completely oblivious to their presence. The car that was slowly sliding down the road behind them moved sporadically, it seemed even more suspicious but he did not have his eyes out for it.

Spike came to a crosswalk, it was strange how empty the town was during school and work hours, it felt deserted, some of the shops hand't even opened yet. They must wait until people were finished. He half expected a ghost to pop out of somewhere and start asking questions.

He looked around in a little bit of awe. That was when he spotted something. A car, a very familiar looking car, with a beaten up fender and one of the lights were out. The windows were so dark they looked painted and there was rust on the doorhandles.

They were following him. He felt a shiver up his spine. He had to act as if he hadn't seen him. They were like sharks. They would smell his fear. Spike started to cross, there were no cars coming and it was still a green light so they would not be able to follow him. He just had to make it around a few corners and then maybe he would be able to slip into a store and wait them out.

He wanted to have made it up to Canada by nightfall but he might have to rethink that if he didn't want them to catch him. Slow and steady won the race after all.

Spike quickly started to go into a trot. Not too fast, his backpack banged against his back and his suitcase smacked his legs. He picked up the pace once he got closer to the corner. He turned it and kept on moving.

"Crap he must have spotted us!" Silver Spoon said as the boy started to move.

"Come on! I know a shortcut!" Diamond Tiara started to race across the street, the other girl scurrying to catch up.

Spike quickly turned a corner and pumped his legs even faster. He ducked around a couple of people walking past and kept on going. He would be okay, he could get out of this. Nothing could go wrong.

He ran face first into Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. He landed heavily on his rear and they plopped to the ground.

"OOOOWWWW!" Silver Spoon complained as she rubbed her stinging posterior.

"What are you two doing here?" He shouted surprised.

"We're asking the questions! What are you doing?" Diamond Tiara shot back. Spike looked around, his suitcase had burst open and clothes were strewn everywhere. He quickly began scrambling around and picking them up. He shoved them in disorderly and crammed, a shirt sleeve and a sock was hanging out. He pushed and shoved until he heard the clasp click back into place.

"Okay okay okay, everything is going to be fine I can still get away, as long as they didn't-" A wheezing horn blew behind him. He whipped his head around and looked.

Rattling down the road came the car. A cloud of choking exhaust came from the ruined exhaust pipe. A window rolled down and Clunk put his head and torso out, he laughed wildly and waved at Spike. Something came hurtling out of his palm and a beer bottle shattered on the ground beside him.

Spike yelped and jumped up.

"Who are those freaks?" Diamond Tiara shouted. Spike didn't answer. He just grabbed her hand in his and began to run.

"COME ON! RUN!" He shouted, Diamond Tiara grabbed Silver Spoons hand and the trio was racing down the street, the car in pursuit. Jeers and shouts were thrown after them. Spike ignored them, he ignored the thumping of the suitcase on his back and the complaining of the two girls. He ran and turned a corner, he was in backyards now. He jumped and dodged lawn ornaments and hopped a low wooden fence.

The car was beside them, then behind them, then it was gone. They were in a small alley that ran between two houses, there was a trio of trashcans that he quickly squatted behind to catch his breath. He listened but he didn't hear the car.

He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Do either of you have a phone?" Silver Spoon crossed her arms and glared.

"I did, until you broke it."

"Oh uh yeah, sorry about that."

"Who were those freaks? What did they want with you?" Spike looked at the two of them. He was stuck with them for a little while, and worse case scenario they tell everyone his story. He sighed and sat, he needed to get it out, he had to tell someone.

"Okay, but this stays between the three of us okay? You are banned from telling anyone what I'm about to tell you. Your lives depend on it." The two looked at each other nervously before they finally nodded in agreement.

"Okay." He sighed and sat on his suitcase cradling his head in his hands.

"It's like this."

 **BOOM! Cliffhanger!**


	45. Chapter 45

"I still don't believe it." Applebloom said shaking her head in disbelief as the three girls sat down to their lunch table.

Sweetie didn't respond, she had been very melancholy for the past few days. She was in a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants and her hair was straight and lackluster, she missed Spike and her entire body language showed it. She was in a very deep funk after learning that he had slammed Diamond Tiara into a wall, sure there was no love lost between the five of them. But that didn't mean that they wanted the two to get hurt. It just didn't seem like Spike, she was confused and bothered.

The other two were surprised that she hadn't fainted already.

"I'm telling you what those two trolls told me, and the way he reacted I'm on the fence. All I gotta say is I'm not surprised if he did turn out to be a crazy pyro dude."

"Don't talk like that!" Applebloom snapped at her friend. Scootaloo merely shrugged and bit into her pear. She spoke through the mouth full of chunks.

"Look, he acted super edgy when they brought it up, and then he just went nuts and attacked 'em. Frankly I don't blame him, but still you know? Time and place."

"It just don't make sense. Why would Spike be a firebug? He's too nice."

"The nice ones are usually the crazies in disguise." Scootaloo said conspiratorially.

"DUDE!" Applebloom said before shaking her head in Sweetie Belles direction.

"What?"

"That's her boyfriend you're calling crazy!"

"So? I just have her best interest at heart." The two began to bicker back and forth like a couple of magpies. There was even some growling between the two of them.

"Stop it. Stop it . STOP IT!" Sweetie shouted slamming her hands on the table to shut them up. She was breathing heavily and there were tears in her eyes.  
"I don't want to hear it okay? I just want to know what the truth is!"

Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at the ground ashamed by how insensitive they had been towards their friend.

"You want the truth? Fine here it is. You're pretty dang lucky." The three girls looked up, standing before them were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both sweaty, disheveled and flushed, as if they had just run to school from across town.

"What do you two want?" Scootaloo said icily, and Applebloom brought a spoon closer to her as if planning to use it as a weapon. Sweetie looked up at them impassively. Silver Spoon sighed before sitting down, Diamond Tiara joined her.

"Look we know we've had some...differences in the past."

"As in you hate us and we hate you?"

"Yeah...that...anyway, we just well. You explain it Silver Spoon." The girl jumped and looked at the four of them nervously.

"Oh well... You see we sort of, earlier today we ran into Spike." Sweetie Belle sat up suddenly interested.

"He's here?"

"No, we sort of ditched school earlier, but we thought we should tell you this." Silver Spoon took a deep breath and looked at Sweetie Belle. "He really likes you, like a lot. And well, just know that we're not the worst possible people out there. In fact it's sort of comforting to know that. And well, you four are lucky that you found each other. Some of us will probably never have what you have." She looked pointedly at Scootaloo and Applebloom who exchanged confused looks.

"What do you mean?"

"They really don't know?" Diamond Tiara asked surprised.  
"Just ignore them." Sweetie said, her eyes were as wide as saucers and her hands were resting on Silver Spoons leg, she looked entranced with what the girl was saying.

"What did he say?"

"Just that he cares about you, and that everything that is happening, he hates it. He really wants to be here with you guys and is sorry that things are so cloak and dagger lately. He did say that it will end soon."

"What the hay does he mean by that?" Applebloom said suspiciously. Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.  
"He didn't say, just that it will end pretty soon."

The two girls stood up. Diamond Tiara looked at Sweetie for a moment in uncertainty before speaking.  
"I can't believe that I'm saying this to you, but well. He's a really nice guy, and I was wrong about him. And you three. Be good to each other okay? Just promise me that?"

The three looked at each other in confusion before Scootaloo looked at them, her eyes as strong and cold as granite.  
"We don't need to do that, we already know that, we care about each other that we don't need anything like that." Diamond Tiara nodded before the two walked off across the lunchroom.

"What was that all about?" Applebloom said confused, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shrugged, completely and utterly lost. Sweetie slipped into her own daydreams.

They had talked to Spike, and he cared about her. Why would he tell those two that? Why would he even talk to them for more than three seconds? Still it felt comforting, even coming from those two. She stood up as the bell rang and the three of them departed, she waved goodbye to her pals as they went off to their own classes.

She wandered through the halls avoiding the bumping and running of the other students. she got to her cooking class, suddenly her work table felt even more lonely than it had before. Empty of Spike.


	46. Chapter 46

**Flashback to earlier in the day**

"And that's that." Spike finished as he sat in front of the two girls. They looked at him in wide eyed shock. Diamond Tiara reached up and rubbed at her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" He asked genuinely surprised by the tears. This was Diamond Tiara, possible one of the most vain, callous person that he knew, and she was tearing up behind some trashcans.  
"I don't know, it's just such a sad story. It isn't right. It just isn't right."  
"Why do you have to go through all of this?" Silver Spoon said shocked, her skirt was resting in a muddy puddle but she didn't seem to care.

"I just have to, I guess it's just my lot in life. Besides, it's just like my old roomies used to say." His face fell his eyes became dark with a spark of terror deep in their depths. "Snitches get stitches."  
"You have to go to the cops." Spike looked at her his eyes became wide, and his entire posture stiffened.  
"No, nuh uh no way. If they find out and they get away-" He shivered, all of the horrible things that they could do to him passed through his mind.

"So what? You're just going to let them continue this until they kill you or something?"  
"My master plan is to run away to Canada and remake a life for myself there." The two girls looked at him with disgruntled looks, Silver Spoon's eyebrow raised and she crossed her arms.

"Seriously?" She asked before shaking her head. "That is literally the worst plan I have ever heard. I mean if what you're saying is true than they'll kill you thirty feet out of town."

"I-I hadn't thought of that." Spike admitted rubbing the back of his neck.  
"Do you even know how to get there?"

"I just figured I would go north until I hit the border."  
"You don't even have any money do you?"

"That's not true!" He reached to the ground and picked up a dime that was sitting next to some rubbish. "I have this!"  
"Oh my God you are going to starve to death within days."

"I can't stay here! If I do I'll just put the others at risk! And I can't even watch out for them, I'm grounded. Because of you two." He hissed out and they looked ashamed, Diamond Tiara bit her lips before speaking back defiantly.  
"You did attack us."  
"I told you to leave me alone, I was having a bad day. Not to mention you've been harassing me since the day I got here. And the others even before then." He ground a knuckle into the asphalt before looking around, he didn't see or hear the busted up jalopy. He slowly stood up, carefully bent over. He slung his backpack back on and reached for his suitcase.

Before he could pick it up though Diamond Tiara reached out and grabbed the shirt sleeve sticking out.  
"Don't go."  
"What are you doing?" He grabbed the handle and tried to move off again, she redoubled her grip and pulled. The fabric gave a groaning noise and the sleeve stretched out.

"Don't go."  
"Why not?"  
"I don't know. You didn't deserve any of that, any of this. I am really sorry."  
"We both are." Silver Spoon spoke up. "But please running away won't solve anything." Spike shook his head and sighed. Suddenly his eyes widened.  
"What time is it?"

Diamond Tiara looked at her watch. "About Elven thirty." Spike thought for a little while, he crossed his arms and rubbed at his scalp. He finally looked at them.

"Okay listen up, I have to get back to my house. My mom is going to be home soon to check up on me."  
"You're not leaving?" Silver Spoon said excitedly, she felt warm, for the first time in a long time she felt good. She was doing something that was...for lack of a better term, nice. She had been selfish for a long time now, and while she wouldn't say that she was different now, she was certainly...leaning towards a new outlook on life.

"On a couple of conditions. I need you two to pass a message onto the crusaders for me."  
"Those losers?" Diamond Tiara objected her nose wrinkling in distaste, Silver Spoon flicked the back of her head in punishment.

"Tell them that I am really sorry that I'm not there with them. That I hate it, that I miss them...and just because Sweetie needs to be reminded this every single day. Tell her that I care about her, a lot."

"Like a lot a lot?"  
"Like a lot a lot a lot." He responded. "Think you can do that?"  
"Totally, we can sneak back in during lunch, it starts in like half an hour, pass the info on to them then. You promise that you won't leave?"  
"Yeah." Spike smiled and held out a hand. "I promise."

Diamond Tiara shook it and then Silver Spoon. The three walked to the edge of the alleyway. Spike looked one way and then another and the three of them quickly rushed off in separate directions.

On his way Spike felt as if something besides his backpack was shifting on his shoulders. Something was almost lifting off of him. He felt relaxed, as if for the first time in a long time he didn't need to worry about what was going to be coming around the next corner. He careened into his backyard and pulled out his keys. He inserted them and unlocked the door.

He froze in the doorway. The house might have been empty, and he might have just gone down the street and back, but this. This was what he had been waiting for. A sense of homecoming, a feeling of belonging. He had come home. This was his home.


	47. Chapter 47

Spike looked appreciatively around the kitchen. Spotless, it had been around three weeks since his expulsion and he was actually getting things done. On top of that he had heard from Twilight that his adoptive parents were in talks with the Principals. They were considering letting him back in!

Well in a few more weeks at least. He figured a month or so. On top of all that he hadn't seen or heard from Garble for two weeks. He hadn't even heard the car go slinking pass. Things were looking up.

While disappointed that he would stoop so low as to get in a fight, with a couple of weak girls no less, his parents were starting to give him a little bit more freedom. He was supposed to study, and clean the house. But after that they had left him with a few privileges. He was allowed to read Shining Armors old comics now, and his sugar free diet was under new thoughts.  
The other day he even heard them discussing whether or not he could be allowed to talk with Sweetie Belle again!  
Spike looked out the window. A nice clear day, glorious. The birds were flicking through the sky and the trees were coming into bloom. It was probably a bad sign from climate change, but he didn't care. It just looked so lovely out.  
Spike bit his lip before looking around, he picked up the emergency cell phone that Twilight Velvet had left for him. He didn't want to ask this favor…but it was just such a nice day out….  
Taking a deep breath Spike quickly texted out a note.

I shouldn't be asking favors right now….but can I please go for a walk?

He waited, his feet bouncing like a pair of nervous jackrabbits. Velvet was much more understanding than her husband and would probably let him go…he just needed to catch her in a good mood. The phone buzzed in his hand.  
Chores and Studying done?  
Spikes heartbeat raced, she was in a good mood!  
Eyup.

Why do you kids say that these days? I suppose so, but bring the phone and be back in one hour young man. You are still in trouble.

Pumping his fists in victory he quickly flew out of the house. Closing and locking the back door he was off at a sprint. There was nothing like running after being cooped up inside all day. He slowed down when he got to main street.  
He paused and panted, his hands on his knees and his hair starting to fold over with sweat. Spike looked at the closed shops and empty streets. He checked the time on the phone. Yeah, yeah he could go further.

Spike started at a slow saunter, everyone else was in school. It was at times like this that he felt like the last person alive on Earth. That would throw the sci-fi writers for a loop, a Native American kid being the last one to survive.

The road leading out of town slowly turned from pavement to dirt and he was walking in a much more rural area. Hopping over mud puddles and strolling with hands in his pockets. He took a deep appreciative breath of fresh air. Glorious.  
It surprised him how close the end of town was to the country. It changed surprisingly rapidly. He looked out at the apple tree orchards that he was now walking among.

Not a soul out. He looked around cautiously before jumping over the face that divided the road from the harvest. The behemoths were sleeping, there leaves fallen. Spike traced his way through the foliage.  
He heard a creak and a sound of attack. As if something was punching something. Interested Spike started to ease along the trees. He stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in a tree was an elevated platform with poorly constructed walls and roof. It looked glued together. He heard the sound again and the door flew off it's hinges and came to a stop against a tree trunk. Out popped a sweating Applebloom.

She rubbed her shoulder and pulled out a small splinter wincing in annoyance. It would take more than just a little piece of wood to cause her actual pain, this was merely annoying.

"You okay?" She looked up at the familiar voice and grinned as wide as an apple pie when she saw Spike. She jumped from the platform easily and went galloping straight at him. She picked him up in her arms and spun him around, his feet off of the ground and the air knocked from his lungs.  
"Eyup! The door was just stuck! It's great to see you!" Seeing that he was turning blue she dropped him to the ground and grinned at him.  
"What are you doing here? We thought you were arrested or something!"  
"Just staying at home lately. What about you? Shouldn't you be in school?" "Professional development day. We got the time off and came to the old play fort!"  
"We?" Spike said excitedly. Applebloom grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.  
"She's up inside, want to see?"  
Before either of them could move though Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came out the door, Scootaloo was in a wagon. Clearly unamused by the situation but used to it. Sweetie looked down, her face took a moment to comprehend, as if she was experiencing a daydream. Once she realized that she was not and that this was indeed reality her face broke out into an enormous smile. She jumped down the small connecting ramp at a break neck pace.  
"SPIKE!" She shouted giddily and flung her arms around his neck. This time it was his turn to laugh and pick her off the ground, he spun in a circle. He had forgotten how light she felt.

"Well aren't you two sickening?" Scootaloo said as she eased herself down the ramp. But she was grinning too. It was nice to see him again.  
"Oh my gosh! Are you out? What really happened? Can you come back to school? Where did you get that lighter? What—" Sweetie Belle was going a mile a minute her face slowly turning red. She took a second to take a deep breath and Spike jumped in.

"Still grounded, still not back at school, still in trouble. Just managed to get a walk in." "Your parents sound like wardens." Scootaloo complained. "Thanks for putting those two in their place by the way."  
"Actually those two are tamer than what I'm used to. And no problem."  
"How much longer are you allowed out?" Sweetie asked, nearly hugging his arm off. Spike looked at his phone and grimaced. He had twenty minutes to get back home.

"I actually need to go home." Their faces instantly fell in disappointment. "But I can see if I can get another walk in tomorrow, and maybe just happen to bump into my favorite girlfriend while out?" He said smiling.  
Sweetie grinned and hugged him around the neck again. "That's me!"  
"Yeah yeah, we'll be at Z's after school tomorrow, see you there square." Applebloom said giving him an affectionate nudge on the shoulder.

Spike smiled and walked away, waving over his shoulder. What he didn't see was the frown across Sweetie's face as she watched his back intently as a hawk. He was avoiding something. He didn't answer the lighter question, she hated acting unnecessarily ditzy. But it would put him off his guard, and she might actually get a few answers soon.


	48. Chapter 48

**So sorry about the wait for this chapter, you guys, there's been a lot of stuff going on lately. This weekend is anime Boston, which I'm going to, so I'll try to post anything that I can, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Sorry in advance! Don't forget to leave a review of you read anything, it really does mean a lot.**

"Yo Zecora! Guess who it is!" Applebloom shouted as she flung open the door to the small store. The woman looked up from the mysterious liquid that she was brewing, it also appeared highly acidic as she was wearing thick fireplace gloves and safety glasses. The woman gave a conservative smile and covered the cup with a glass aquarium turned upside down.

"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite quartet. I had not expected you to be coming in so early today my cadets."

"School got out early and Spike is technically expelled. Shhh, it's a secret." Applebloom said putting a finger to her lips. Zecora grinned and copied the younger redhead. Spike face palmed and groaned. He glared at Applebloom who pointedly ignored the icy look that he threw her way.

A couple of arms wrapped themselves around his. Spike looked down at Sweetie Belle who smiled up at him.  
"Don't worry if anyone can keep a secret than it's Zecora, she knows everything about everything."

"Little bell you flatter me, my powers do not extend as far as all that you see."

"Powers?" Spike said skeptically. Scootaloo slid up to him.

"She's a psychic, can read palms and minds, also see through clothing so you had better hope you wore some underwear today." She laughed and rolled herself over to a small shelf. She picked up a piece of sparkling glass and Applebloom looked over her shoulder leaning on the handles to her wheelchair.

"You can read palms?" Spike said interested, he had always wanted to see what his future might say. Zecora smiled and nodded in her usual sage way.

"I have the sight, although not strong in might, I can perceive many separate paths, they lead to the future, present and past. If you are willing to have some illumination, I would be more than happy to provide a demonstration." Spike moved forward extending his hands in preparation. She held up her own with a firm look to her face.

"Sorry little dragon, this is a place of business and and not a game, although you might find me superstitious I do not preform without a little...aim." She rubbed two fingers together, the common sign for currency.

Spike frowned but understood, she had already given him a free plant, he should have expected something like this.

"Sorry but I'm broke."

"Here you go." Sweetie Belle dug around in her pocket and took out a five dollar bill that she dropped into Zecora's palm. The tattooed woman smiled and secreted the piece of paper into her pockets.

"Sweetie you really didn't need to do that." He said appreciatively but smiling anyway. She responded by smiling up at him.  
"I know but I wanted to." She didn't mention the other part, that most of Zecora's predictions on the past and the present and the future were usually spot on. And she wanted to hear what she had to say about him. She was still curious about Spike, with all of the hullabaloo around the school now more than ever.

And what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had said...she wanted to know who Spike exactly was.

Spike sat down across from Zecora, the woman took his hand in one of hers, the other began to trace over his skin delicately, softly tracing the lines and the marks. The ink stains and the chapped skin, she studied his hand turning it over one way and then another.

She hummed a bit before she started.

"This line, faint as a hair, it means that you are true and fair, the one that is short and stout represents the heroics that no one hears about, you strive to be strong and well liked. Unnecessary as you are surrounded by those of your own type." Spike smiled at this, he could see the lines that she was tracing but he couldn't read anything into them, all he saw was shakes and curves, if he looked hard enough maybe a split in the line or two.

"This one is-" She paused and studied it for a moment, Spike started to get a little nervous...he hadn't expected the woman to be this thorough.

"A past you hate and wish to escape, pain is all you were taught. Something that you wisely fought. You are scared by what draws you, something that you know can harm you. You take the weight of a crime long since passed, some forgive while others must act. And you, poor little boy that you are...you still feel every scar."

Spike unconsciously reached up and touched his chest. Sweetie Belle reached out to touch his shoulder, to comfort herself as much as comfort him, but she slowed and stopped. Her hand hovering in midair before she pulled it back and clutched it in her own. Something happened to him, when he was young. Something to do with all of those cuts and bruises and scars. Something that he had kept silent about.

Zecora looked at Spike, her eyes wide and scared. His future. She had just reached his future.

"My child." She breathed out gently. Spike tried to pull his hand away, scared that it might contaminate her, or that if she looked hard enough whatever she feared would come true.

"What is it?" Applebloom said breathlessly, she felt hooked on this now,invested. She and Scootaloo had both turned their attention to the woman and boy sitting hand in hand.

"Fire, fire and pain. Do not try to shift the blame. Boy." She looked deep into Spikes eyes, pleadingly "Tell them, tell them the source of your misery. Forget this need for mystery. They are your friends. They can save you from this horrible end."

Spike quickly stood up, he slipped his hand out from hers and held it tightly in his own.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about." He said before he quickly turned and walked out of the store. The three girls rushed after him, calling his name. But he ran, he was out of sight around the corner within seconds.

"Is seriously no one going to run after him?" Scootaloo said annoyed. Applebloom began to say something but stopped.  
"What do you think she meant?"  
"What is Spike keeping from us?" Sweetie Belle said, she clenched her hands tight enough to crack a knuckle.

"Tonight. We're taking down his girls house tonight."  
"Which one is that?" Grunt said. Garble looked him up and down like he was an idiot.  
"Her, duh." He said pointing her out.

Spike slammed through the back door and quickly closed it huffing in exhaustion, she was right. She was right. But he was too far down the path. He couldn't turn back, or change it. He didn't know any other way.

"Where were you?" Spike stiffened. Standing in the kitchen and tapping her foot was Twilight. She crossed her arms and glared at him, she must have come straight home. "Spike, I am concerned about your behavior lately. Tell me what is happening or else-"

"Lay off Twilight." Spike snapped, it pained him to talk to her like that, she was the first person he knew who was kind to him. She recoiled, shocked, her face surprised but more than that...she looked hurt. He pushed past her making his way to the stairs.

"Tell me what is going on right now or else-"  
"Twilight just drop it, you're not my mom." He said as he stomped to his room and slammed the door close. He leaned against it and closed his eyes.

"You're not my mom and I don't deserve you enough for you to act like one."


	49. Chapter 49

Okay be quiet." The four of them were right beside the house. Garble was closest to the house. He looked behind himself to make sure that the others weren't trying to get away. He was too used to getting screwed over by those he least expected it from, so he was going to make certain that no one would try and pull that on him again.

"You certain she live here?" Grunt said as he tiptoed behind him.

"Positive. Now you guys know the plan right? She got no parents but you have to watch out for-"

"Yeah yeah we get it already! Now come on, his room was a good start but I really want to get into it!" Clunk said anxiously. He was always the most excitable out of all of them.

"Oh you'll be able to get into it. Crackle you me and Clunk got the downstairs. Grunt, you get the girlfriend."  
"What if you know...we get caught?"  
"You're really worried about one chick against you?" Garble said raising an eyebrow and patting Grunt's girth. "Just get the girlfriend downstairs. We torment her for a bit and then jet."

The four delinquents moved to the backdoor. Garble tried the knob just to be thorough, it of course did not so much as budge. He prepared to fling himself against the door but stopped. He motioned for Crackle to do it for him. The girl walked up, lifted a leg and with a single powerful kick she smashed open the lock.

"Okay go go." Garble said motioning them inside. They streamed into the small kitchen and moved past it and into the main showroom of the Carousel Boutique. The dresses on the shelves were new and fresh, Rarity had been spending all week working on them. Each one inspired by something astounding that she had seen or experienced or thought and turned into a lovely dress, she had spent painstaking hours making each one as lovely as she could possibly conceive.

The work showed, all of the heart and effort and time she had put into each and every one. Crackle held one up to her body, it was a vibrant green and it off set the fake gems stuck in her skin. She turned in a tight circle the bottom swished around the floor. She then held it up and slowly and painstakingly tore it straight down the middle, she let both halves fall to the ground and began to grind them into the floor with the heel of her shoe.

Clunk let out a guffaw before he pushed over a mannequin dummy. He pulled out a pocket knife and flicked out a blade, he began to methodically tear at the fabric and padding. He repeatedly stabbed up and down and allowed the pieces to fly all around the room.

Garble looked at the front window thoughtfully. The light post outside was out and the window didn't look alarmed. He grinned wickedly as he walked to a chair, it had cushions put on it thoughtfully placed for anyone who might need to rest during shopping. He lifted it above his head and took a running start for the window. He released it and it flew through the air.

It smashed right in the middle of the glass and the window exploded outward in a loud shatter. Clunk and Crackle looked up and began to laugh before turning back to the dresses they had been tearing off from the racks. Garble chose to turn his attention to the mirrors in the dressing rooms.

Rarity sat up in her bed. She quickly whipped off her eye mask. She had heard something. Something smashing. She sat still for a moment before she heard thumping and rustling downstairs. It was too loud to be Sweetie Belle, also she would definitely be asleep by this time, it was the middle of the night, almost morning technically.

"Robbers. Oh dear. Oh Dear. Oh dear!" Rarity spoke horrified. Maybe they didn't know anyone was home? But what if they did? She quickly jumped out of bed, she had read enough newspaper articles to know what sort of things happened to women home alone with robbers in the house. She rushed to her chiffarobe and pulled the doors open, she quickly began to paw through the well organized drawers in the bottom.

"Please be there. Oh please. Oh please. Oh Please!" Rarity said desperately. All of the horrible things that could happen rushing into her mind, they might ruin her house, her store, they might hurt her, or even worse they might hurt her darling little Sweetie Belle! She was rummaging around some undergarments and socks when her hands wrapped around a couple of cans. She pulled them free.

They had been gifts from Applejack, high-powered pepper spray meant for fending off bears and cougars in Canada. Applejacks second cousin once removed had sent her a large case of them thinking that they were cooking tools. Applejack had gifted one to her as mace. Rarity also pulled out an air horn that she had bought and not used yet. She had stored them somewhere she thought would be useful to get to in moments like this but had no intention to ever actually use them.

She took a deep breath and stood up. Her fine silk pajamas felt almost constricting, she wondered if she was going to have a sudden panic attack. But no, she rallied herself, she was too strong for that. And she was not going to let anyone break into her store and mess with her things, or harm her family.

She reached the door and wondered absentmindedly if it wouldn't be wiser to call the authorities. She opened the door, high powered moose mace in one hand and a deafening fog horn in the other. Standing in her hallway hand outstretched and a surprised expression on his face was a portly young man with short spiky hair.

"Shoot wrong room." He said in surprise. Rarity screamed and lifted her hand up and aimed at his face pressing down hard on the button at the top.

"WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAA!" Shouted the foghorn. Grunt clutched his head and screamed as noise meant to be heard lost at sea was blasted two feet from his face.

"What was that?!" He shouted in surprise grasping the sides of his head. Rarity realizing her mistake quickly raced the pepper spray and let loose an enormous dose directly into his face. He screamed again and grabbed his eyes and nose. It felt as if she had set him on fire! As if she had just lit some body spray and set him on fire!

A bit of blowback from the close quarters reached Rarity and stung her eyes and nostrils, it splattered her skin and she hissed. She then brought a leg up and kicked the intruder as hard as she possibly could in the stomach.

All of the air left him and he stumbled backwards into the wall, slid and fell down the narrow flight of stairs to the very bottom.  
"GRUNT! GRUNT!" She heard shouting from downstairs and quickly ran down the hallway to Sweetie Belles room.

"What happened to you man?" Clunk said kneeling beside his friend and helping him to a sitting position. The portly boy could only moan in response, he wanted to be unconscious, anything to make his pain end.  
"Idiot." Garble said as he took out a can of spray paint and slathered some on the top of Grunt's head in annoyance. He then moved to the walls of the kitchen and began to add some graffiti to the broken dishes and ruined food they had flung on the floor.

"Okay, we're going upstairs and we are getting that brat got it?" He said authoritatively. Not waiting for an answer he started up the stairs.

"Rarity? W'as hapen'ing?" Sweetie Belle slurred out as she sat up in her bed, Rarity only grabbed her sisters hand and yanked her up out of bed.  
"No time to talk! We need to go now!" She dragged her sister out of the room and into the hallway. It was thankfully empty, she ran past her bedroom and to the stairs. She had them take them three at a time. They needed to get out of the house before something else happened.

Turning a corner into the kitchen two strong arms wrapped around her and she was pulled away from Sweetie Belle.  
"RARITY!" Sweetie screamed as she was pulled away. A tall girl had Rarity in a headlock and a short boy with highlights had a hold of Sweetie.  
"Hold her still I'm gonna ruin her pretty face." A boy said coming out of the shadows with a knife

He made his way towards Sweetie, his voice reeked of cigarettes and his face was sunburned.

He took the knife up close to Sweetie's horrified face wet with tears, not an ounce of sleep on it anymore, he cracked open a devilish smile.

Then she screamed. As loud as she could, as high pitched as she could. It was a reflex. It was also on a decibel that most bats could hit.

"What the what?!" Garble shouted dropping the knife and covering his ears.  
"What?!" Clunk said in surprise as Sweetie began to shake and tremble, he dropped her to the ground in surprise. "Jeez! She's crazy or something man! She's seizing!"

Rarity slammed her elbow into the mountain of meat holding her. Crackle gasped and released her in surprise.  
"SWEETIE!" She screamed jumping next to her sister.  
"Forget it Garb's! This is crazy! I'm out!"

The first one ran grabbing his groaning friend and pulling him behind him. The girl followed after. The last one, the sunburned boy looked at her and then at his retreating friends before growling in defeat and turning tail and running.

"Sweetie."Rarity said concerned. Glass shattered, another window destroyed. Rarity looked up, she didn't know what to do. She was beyond mere fright. She had never been so scared in her entire life.

"HELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, she began to claw through her pajama pocket until she pulled out her phone. She wisely dialed the police, but her friends were soon on the line as well.

The four teens ran in separate directions as fast as their feet could carry them.


	50. Chapter 50

Spike muttered in his sleep. Something was wrong, something was wrong in his room...he could just tell. A sort of sixth sense. He tried to wake up, but his bed was so comfortable and it felt as if he had just fallen asleep.

His eyes opened a crack and he slowly cast his gaze across the room. Nothing, nothing, window was open, an ominous shadow at the foot of his bed, back to nothing. He closed his eyes to return to sleep.

A hand was slapped across his mouth and a heavy body sat down on his chest.

"Make a sound and I'll stab you." Spike's eyes flew open and he struggled for a moment, shrieking into the palm pressing against his mouth. His eyes watered in fear. He froze once he felt something long and cold press against his stomach. A knife. This was it, he could tell. Spike took deep whistling breaths through his nose and began to cry silently.

"Shut up."Garble said forcefully pressing his hand even harder against Spikes mouth. He looked disheveled. His face was red and he even panted a little bit, his hair was a mess, flopping over as if the gel he used in it had began to dissolve.

"Listen up you little punk and listen to me good. We just got back from your girlfriends house. The eggheaded freak in the other room will probably be getting a text any second now from her. So here is what is going to happen, if you don't follow my instructions to the freaking letter, I am going to go into each and every bedroom and freaking murder each one of the freaking freaks that you've been living with. Capisce?" Spike nodded, he couldn't breath, he couldn't think, so heavy. The boy was so heavy on top of him.

Then it hit him, he had been to Sweetie Belle's. His fatigue and fear were replaced with rage. He glared up at the bigger boy. Garble did not seem to notice or care.

"In two days, you are going to willingly walk to where we've been staying. And then we are going to end you. We are going to make certain that you wished you had never been born. The reason that you are going to do this is because if you don't we are going to go back to your girls place...and trust me it is going to be a lot worse than what it was like tonight." Spike struggled before leaning back.

They would hurt her, they would hurt Sweetie Belle a million times worse than they had ever hurt him. Or Crackle, or Grunt and Clunk. He would do unspeakable things to her. And most of what he did to them had been pretty bad. His back clenched where he felt the sting of memories slicing across his skin. His palms ached where fire had been held against them just for fun.

He would be able to take whatever they dished out, he was tough. But Sweetie Belle...Sweetie Belle...she wasn't tough.

"Calm down killer, the reason it's two days is to give you time to get your affairs in order, say so long. Thanks for the kicks. But don't tell anyone why you're doing it. Got it?"

Spike nodded in understanding.

"Good. We've been squatting at 149 Market Street, in the big abandoned warehouse, it has a large red x spray painted on the front door. You get there by midnight on the final day. And then it's all over. If you don't show up, or the cops do instead, or anything funny like that."Garble merely grinned and gestured around the room.

"This is certainly a nice place, a step up from the dump we used to share eh Spikey? I still remember those days. If only you had been on board...well if wishes were fishes and all that BS." Garble slowly slid off of him. Spike looked up at the taller boy. He looked angry, he always looked angry, butt here was something else there. Resignation, a sadness. Like it better or not Spike had managed to get out of that place...But Garble...

Garble almost seemed to carry it with him no matter where he went.

"Night Spikey, see you soon." Spike nodded as the older boy slid himself out the window. Landed on the roof, rolled and jumped to the lawn where he took off running. Probably to meet up with the only three people in the world he would even consider being friends with.

Spike leaned back in his bed and sighed, he slapped the heel of his palm to his face and a couple of choked terrified sobs escaped. He stood up out of bed, he paced, he grabbed his pillow and began to punch it angrily. He stopped and placed it back down. He sat on his bed and cradled his head in his hands. What was the point? What was the point of any of this?

'Poor Sweetie Belle, she must have been terrified!' He thought to himself. He took a deep steadying breath. "What am I going to tell her?" He said out loud.

Not the truth definitely not the truth, but he had to find some way to break up with her. For her own good, he wasn't going to disappear on her at least.

"WHAT!" Twilight shouted from her room and then some furious typing followed. Rarity must have texted her, must have told her what Garble had told him. Or at least some version of it.

There came the slamming of drawers and the closet doors, running feet and then Twilight was out of her room and out of the house faster than Spike thought was possible. She hadn't even bothered to wait for a ride or anything, she just ran all the way to the Carousel Boutique.


	51. Chapter 51

Sunset quickly dropped over the back of the fence. She landed lightly and quickly backpedaled in order to keep her balance. She backed up slowly and as stealthily as possible.

Her back hit against something and she whirled around with her hands up in a karate move. She had no idea how to actually fight but she could throw a pretty good punch when she was backed up into a corner.

The boy in front of her was red in the face, as if he were sunburned, he had some freckles, also a messed up mohawk that had thick pieces falling on each and every side. His hair was limp and sweaty.  
"Who are you?" She said surprised.

"Who are you." He spat back, biting at the air a little bit as if he were a dog.  
"Rude." Sunset responded. "Whatever, excuse me." She began to walk around him when he grabbed her by the arm. Sunset froze and glared down at it and then back up to him.

"Can I help you?" She said icily.  
"You know who I am?" He said darkly. Sunset felt her heart clench in her chest. Here she was, alone, in the middle of the night. With some weird looking guy. Who had just come from her girlfriends house.  
"No." She responded. She had meant for it to come out firm, but it sounded little and frightened. She was, this weirdo looked unstable. She began to pull her arm away a little. He clenched it harder, he was reaching to his back pocket when he froze.

His head cocked to the side and he looked out towards the street. Sunset heard them as well. Sirens, heading away from here though.  
"Those idiots." He muttered, he looked at her and then away. "Don't have time for you. Forget my face girly. Cause I certainly ain't gonna forget yours." He looked her up and down.

Sunset shivered involuntarily. She had heard the term undress with your eyes. Hell she had even seen Twilight do that to her once or twice. But this guy, it felt more like he was ripping her skin off of her. He let go of her arm and quickly turned and started running away from where she stood. She held her arm for a second and shivered again. He made her skin crawl.

"And this used to be such a good neighborhood." She said disgusted. A girl couldn't even sneak into her girlfriends house in the middle of the night anymore.

Sunset jumped over the fence to Twilight's house and shimmied up to the roof. She slowly stole along past the windows. Her parents and older brothers lights were out. Of course, he was across the ocean or something and her parents went to bed early. She froze in front of Spikes window.

It was wide open and a light was on. A candle had been lit and was sitting on his desk. He sat with his head in his hands, he had on purple pajamas and the sort of look that would send most people running for some ice-cream and tissues to comfort him with.

In front of him was a piece of paper and some broken pencils. Also a lighter, he must have hidden that one, she wondered how many the boy actually had. Sunset stuck her head into the dimly lit room and started to speak. She paused before taking a deep breath.

"Hey." She said softly, as if talking to a wild animal. He turned, Spike had possibly the saddest eyes she had ever seen, and she had seen Applejack cry once.  
"Hey."  
"You okay?"  
"Not really."  
"Want to talk about it?" She swung into his room. He flipped the piece of paper that he was writing on over and put some books over it, effectively hiding it.

"Well it's just...everything is really bad right now, and I don't think I can deal with it. I just...everyone has been so nice to me...and I don't know how to deal with that." Sunset nodded, she bit her lip before she finally responded.

"You shouldn't feel bad for being treated well you know. Everyone here cares a lot about you, you're family."  
"You mean friends."  
"Trust me with us there is very little difference. Can I tell you something?"  
"shoot."  
"I was diagnosed with anger management issues when I was a kid. I was mean to people, cruel, I pushed a lot of people away, a bully, I was a real horror. But then I met Twi...and well. Things have gotten much better...I was even considering...you know...but well. Look one bad thing in life doesn't mean it will always be bad. Things get better." Spike nodded and looked down at the floor.

"You really care for Twi huh?" Sunset only blushed in response. "You know that she's at Rarity's right?" Sunset sat up surprised.  
"What?"  
"Check your phone." Sunset pulled it out, she had kept it on silent so that no one might hear her sneak in. She was shocked to see over eighty unseen messages. Half from Twilight, some from Rarity and the rest from the other girls. She gasped and covered her mouth.

She stood up and quickly ran for the window.  
"What happened?" Spike called after her.  
"I have to go, someone broke into the Carousel Boutique! Twilight's already there." She responded. "You stay here though, we are all heading over there now. Twilight will fill you in tomorrow." Sunset quickly walked across the roof, slightly hunched over. She felt her blood begin to boil, in fear. When she was younger and she felt like this it was out of anger.

But now, now it was focused on Rarity and Twilight who was already there. Fear that she might be scared, or hurt. Or worse.  
"Sunset!" Spike called after her. "Thanks for the talk."  
"No problem"She responded absentmindedly before jumping to the ground and running off.

Spike turned back in. He picked up the paper. He crumpled it. Not right, not yet. It was too much...too much like one of those notes.


	52. Chapter 52

Crackle rushed through the town proper at a good clip, before going up a side street that snaked upwards. She was probably the strongest one out of the entire group. Not to mention fastest and the only girl. She looked around trying to find some kind of familiar landmark, they had decided to meet back up somewhere... now if only she could remember where.

She sighed angrily and wrapped the slip that she had stolen from the store around her shoulders. Sure they had initially gone there to mess the place up, maybe frighten the family that lived there, maybe go a little further...but only if Garble said so!

Anyway she knew him, he wouldn't do something like that. He was better than that. He wouldn't purposefully hurt anyone, he wasn't like Clunk and Grunt, those two were sadists. And he certainly was much more loyal than Spike.

The little jerk had all of this coming, if he had just stayed on board, or at least not have screwed all of them over as horribly as he did...

But she shouldn't waste brain power thinking about him. She had more important things to worry about.

Like where the heck was the landmark that they were supposed to meet up under? She took a deep breath and paused just outside of a apartment building, she had somehow gotten on top of a small hill, she had a decent view of the entire town. She looked up and slowly mouthed out the words on the sign.

C-L-O-U-D-S-D-A-L-E B-L-U-F-F-S

Cloudsdale Bluffs.

Weird name. She had spent about two minutes actually reading it, it wasn't like she was slow or nothing, she just didn't get the whole grasp on reading, or writing, or mathematics. Still she could take three big dogs in a fight so how much book learning did she honestly need?

She turned away from the apartment and looked out over the town. There were some sirens and flashing lights, but they were so far away that she couldn't even make out where they were. She forced her eyes to face the same way for once and gritted her teeth. She had to concentrate now, she had to remember where exactly they were supposed to meet up...and what it looked like.

A girl with crazy straw colored hair and cross eyes walked past her, she had a mailbag over one shoulder. She smiled and waved. Crackle glowered down at her. The girl quickly skittered past.

"Excuse me." The girl said as she ducked into the building and pushed past some other girl who was rushing out. The girl had rainbow colored hair and half of a jacket on, she had a bag of coffee clamped firmly in her mouth. She got out and looked around the streets and foliage, as if she intended to bushwhack down to town. It would probably be much faster than taking the roads anyway.

The two girls stood beside each other for a moment just staring out at the town. The rainbow colored girl stiffened and looked at her out of the corner of her eye before turning to face her entirely.

"That's a really nice wrap." Rainbow Dash said carefully to the big girl. Crackle did not respond except to let out a little moan. IT was nice, would probably get them fifty bucks, eighty if they threatened. Hopefully the others had stolen stuff to pawn too. They needed the money.

"In fact it looks just like something my good friend made. She made it special like you see. There's only one in existence. And she cares about it a ton. She even embroidered her name into it." Rainbow Dash began to approach the larger girl aggressively. She didn't see size, nor did she she knew was that some folks had broken into Rarity's house and messed it up. She said one was a huge girl.

Crackle looked down at the wrap. There was writing on it, she couldn't read it upside down though.  
"Her name is Rarity." Rainbow Dash hissed out. Crackle didn't wait, she spun on her heel and sprinted.  
"HEY!" Rainbow shouted and gave chase. The girl was big, but she was fast, not especially crafty though, she ran the same way and when she turned it was in big loops. Rainbow could follow her, she was just concerned about keeping up with her. She had longer legs so she pumped hers twice as fast.

Crackle quickly left the road and began to spring through the forest. Unconcerned with the branches racking her face and ripping her hair in clumps. Rainbow Dash jumped over a log that this bigger girl had stepped over. She thought she knew where they were headed, she just hopped she was still awake.

Crackle ran into a clearing, a smaller street, the houses further apart, and they looked more like cottages. Like something out of those fairytale books they read before they needed to turn them into firewood. It had been a rough winter. She slowed a little and looked around in awe.

She was cutting across a yard when a whooshing sound came from her left. A frying pan hit her square in the jaw. She groaned and slowly spun a little. She still stood and she glowered at the frightened girl in the doorway. She had dropped the pan and held her hands in pain.

"Flutters!" Rainbow Dash gasped as she caught up "Stop-huff-HER!"

Crackle did not wait, she picked up the pan and whipped it at the approaching girl with all her strength. She didn't stop to see if it hit, she just turned and ran.

Rainbow dove to the ground and the pan went whistling over her head. She looked up but the girl had disappeared. She was too exhausted to go after her anyway.  
"DANG IT!"  
"I'm sorry Rainbow." Fluttershy said softly as she kneeled beside the panting girl.  
"Is-fine-get-text?" She panted out. Fluttershy nodded.  
"Eyup. Rarity texted me and anything. We should get down there...who was that?" Rainbow Dash shakily got to her feet, her knees felt week, she had pushed herself too much.  
"Tell you later. Got your bike?" Fluttershy quickly ran behind her house and pushed it out. Rainbow nodded appreciatively, she then sat down onto the handlebars. They had done this a few times with Fluttershy normally in Rainbows spot, but she felt too weak to actually peddle.  
"You got this?" She asked concerned.

Fluttershy smiled in response and began to languidly peddle the bike down the silent nighttime street. Rainbow Dash sat as still as she could, she could smell Fluttershy just inches behind her. She smelt...soft.


	53. Chapter 53

Grunt moaned as he ran. He had lost sight of the others, in fact he had lost sight of most everything. His face was burning, his stomach was clenching and he was pretty certain that he had lost all of his hearing. The only thing in his ears was a deep ringing.

He puffed and huffed around in a circle, he thought that he was making progress. But all he was doing was running around the square in a slowly expanding circle. He would sometimes lean up against a window or a building and pant until he had a bit of breath back. He could only breath through his mouth and it felt as if his lips had swollen to the sizes of tangerines.

He wanted to curl up in a corner and just die. But if he did that than he would be caught. He kept on running.

He had lost Clunk and that was what really scared him. The others he could understand abandoning him. But his main man Clunk? Now that was low, insanely low.

An owl hooted in the night and flew overhead, Grunt did not hear it or see it. His eyes were too puffed up and pointed downwards anyway. He spat up a sickly bit of saliva on the concrete. He paused and leaned up against a window. He rubbed aggressively at his face and snorted in an attempt to clear his air way again.

Above him, leaning out her window was Pinkie Pie. She and her sister Maud lived with the Cakes above Sugar Cube Corner. Maud because she went to college nearby, and Pinkie because the rock farm wasn't a place "for" her as she always put it. That place was full of dreariness, boredom, rules, and suppressing who you were, a great place to live if you were a rock farmer, not a great place for a young girl. The owl had taken perch near Pinkie's window and she was feeding him some strange bread from the bakery.

It came over to her window once a week like clockwork and she would be up and handing it a stale cupcake or half a named him Hooty McHootingtonface Esq.  
Not the strangest pet she had ever had, once when she was younger she had bought an Alligator from a guy on the street and kept it for over two years without anyone finding out!

Pinkie perked up as the jogger leaned against the side of the store again. He had been going around in a circle for the past twenty minutes and looked to be working up a sweat. Pinkie leaned over her head and torso sticking out into the night, trying to get a better look at him. Suddenly her phone buzzed in her pocket.

She pulled back in and flipped it open, the million of keychains on it jingling. She scrolled through Rarities message, her face becoming slack and open jawed in amazement.  
"OHMYGOSHHHH!" She screamed out into the night, startling Hooty and the jogger. She didn't bother with the stairs, instead flinging herself out of her window and onto the overhang that the Cakes left out to block people from rain or sun. She landed, bounced and then fell right beside the jogger.  
"YOUWOULDN'TBELIEVEWHATJUSTHAPPENED!" She shouted in the guys face. He merely moaned and covered his ears.

This girl was so loud. She was loud and obnoxious and from what he could see in his reduced sphere of vision she was incredibly pink.

"Someone broke into Rarity's! I have to go and-" Pinkie Pie stopped, she paused in midair as she had just tried to run as fast as possible but then something occurred to her.  
A few minutes ago someone broke into Rarity's place.  
She had managed to hurt one with mace...and deafen him...  
And he should be around here somewhere...

"I've never seen you around here before." Pinkie said slowly turning to the guy. He was huffing and beginning to leave. She frowned, her hair lost it's signature fluff and she began to stalk after him.  
"And the thing is I know everyone...but not you..."

The guy began to pick up his pace, limping slightly. He passed by the town fountain and stopped. He turned back to it and dunked his head into the water. He came back up coughing and crying a little. The mace was even worse. Pinkie gasped in surprise.

This guys face was blotchy and puffy and enormous, he looked like something out of her nightmares. Then she noticed it, the last little thing. The shoe print on his stomach.

From where a slipped had kicked him, a very specific slipper, one with a worn toe and stitches put in by the owner to sew up a break. Rarity's slipper to be precise.

"IT was you!" She shouted and grabbed the boy roughly by the scruff of his neck. She didn't know what she planned to do with him, if she had her personally modified and patented party cannon with her than she probably would have hit him with it. But she would just have to rely off of good old fashioned fisticuffs.

Grunt surprised and frightened screamed. He did not wait, instinct took over. He grabbed her hand, and with a strong throw launched Pinkie Pie over his head, she landed in the fountain back first, all of the air knocked out of her. She had no idea how it happened. One moment she was standing behind a guy, then she was flying through the air and now she was getting soaking wet as the perpetrator raced off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Spitting and hollering Pinkie tried to stand up in the water. But she could not get a grip and instead floundered around like a fish on land.

Grunt did not slow down, he had to get away, he had to escape. He had to find his friends and then-

"GRUNT! GRUNT!" Grunt paused in his running and titled his head around. Finally from a sliver of exposed eye he saw a person running towards him. Clunk. The poor guy had what looked to be apple pieces in his hair and a wild look in his eyes.

"We need to get out of here man! Everyone in this town is crazy!" Clunk grabbed Grunt's arm and began to forcibly drag him down the sidewalk. The two raced away from the shouting Pinkie Pie and the hooting of the distressed owl. Grunt didn't know where they were going but that was alright. That was just fine. He trusted Clunk.


	54. Chapter 54

Clunk had no idea where he was. It was dark, he was terrified and everyone had abandoned him. Cowards. Jerks. Imbeciles. It was all Garble and Crackle's fault. He was just along for the ride. But now he had no idea where Grunt was, where any of them where.

In fact he was pretty lost himself. He looked around. Somewhere on a farm he thought. An apple farm...hadn't they stalked Spike here once?  
He honestly didn't remember, or care. The little creep had wandered a lot the past few days, and he couldn't be bothered to remember everywhere that he went.

Still he had to find the others soon. Grunt was probably broken down from the amount of grief that he had received in the past few hours. Spray painted, maced, beaten up, deafened. The poor fat moron.

Clunk paused beneath one of the trees. The fruit was full and firm, probably been hanging for a few days, trying to suck up as much of the good weather as possible. He didn't blame it. He reached up and pulled a fat one off of the stem, a thick bit of leaves and twigs came off with them. He ripped them off violently before taking a large bite.

He chewed appreciatively. His eyes lit up in enjoyment. He hadn't eaten something this sweet in weeks! The skin was soft and thin, yet it still had a firm satisfying crunch. On top of that the actual meat beneath the skin was juicy and a little bit of the liquid dribbled down his chin, he wiped at it with the back of his hand before taking another satisfied bite. Delicious.

The apples had to have some sort of secret, pesticides or growth hormones or something. He didn't think it would be possible to get something that tasted this good naturally. Organic farms always boasted all natural just like God or the weather intended, but he was savvy enough to know that they were pumping weed killer on top of all of that.

At least these apples were fresh from the tree, no plastic sheen over them yet. He took another appreciative bite. Chewed aggressively and swallowed. Over half of the apple was gone. He became bored with that one and plucked another from another low hanging branch. He bit through the skin and chewed it up. He wished that he had something to carry them in, he would use his shirt but that would be too much effort.

He hefted the half eaten apple in one hand, he then turned and whipped it at a nearby tree where it splattered. Like hurling a ripe egg. These things would make great sauce. Clunk chortled at the thought, it wasn't really funny but right now he needed something to laugh about. And if it wasn't applesauce than it had to be something.

He continued walking through the orchard. He would follow a path until he found the road back to town. Just follow that and he would find the others. Than it would be back to the squat and wait until Garble came up with a new plan.

Clunk didn't like the current plan, in fact he thought that it was really stupid. Sure Spike was a rat, but what should he care? He did his time, not as long as Garble certainly but so what? Just move on and forget about it.

A light came on in the darkness ahead. A farmhouse, a barn and a few smaller outlying buildings came into view. Someone was rushing around inside. He couldn't hear anything specific but he could make out a few words being tossed around. Clunk waited in the shadows of one of the trees. Finally a girl came to the doorway pulling on a hat.

She looked frantic, also familiar. She called something over her shoulder and an old woman and possibly the third biggest guy Clunk had ever seen in his life came to the doorway. The woman waved the girl away. She blew a kiss but did not bother to slow down.

Clunk recognized her finally, a friend of Spikes or something like that. He had seen her at that school. She was getting on a bike and pedaling, it was old and rusty, also clearly a boys bike. She rode it down a driveway and out onto a road. She hooked a left, back the way Clunk had come. She must have been going back to town.

Clunk slowly began to go back into the orchard. He stepped on something and a crack reverberated through the entire woods. He looked down at the broken dry tree branch. The woman in the doorway froze and slapped at the bigger boys arm.

"BIG MAC!" She cried out in alarm. "There's a critter in the orchard!"  
"Eyup." The boy said before turning to go back inside, presumably to get some sleep. The old woman glared at him for a moment.  
"Well go on and get it!" Big Mach sighed but he left the opening and walked into the yard, he went to a stump, sticking out of it was a large axe, with one hand he grasped it and pulled the entire thing free, he plopped it onto his shoulder and began walking towards Clunk.

Clunk was petrified, if he moved he would be spotted and hunted down. His safest bet was just to wait.

"You try and find it, I'll get the shotgun." The old woman called after the slowly approaching behemoth.  
Clunk chose to forget this craziness and made a break for it. He heard the whistle as the axe was thrown and ducked just low enough that it didn't decapitate him. A gun shot rang out in the night and all he was concerned about now was running as far away from these crazy people as he possibly could get.

And maybe hopefully find Grunt and the others.

 **Between school and regular life stuff, my next few chapters might be sporadic. Sorry in advance. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the story so far! It'd mean a lot to me! Thanks!**


	55. Chapter 55

"I just can't believe that something like this would happen. It's, well it's inconceivable." Twilight said as she prepared another cup of coffee. The seven girls sat around the kitchen table. The room had been reorganized, repaired and generally cleaned up. The police had arrived and taken statements, collected evidence and assured Rarity that everything was safe. They also contacted her parents who were away on a long cruise around the world. The six other girls had arrived shortly after the police officers and Pinkie and Applejack had to be restrained and threatened with incarceration before they would wait quietly outside with the others and allow the police to do their jobs.

"Yeah this town has really gone to the dogs." Rainbow Dash sulked on the counter, there were not enough chairs to go around and she had chosen that as a perch. She fiddled with a slightly stained coffee mug, flipping it up into the air and catching it. Fluttershy sat on the floor, leaning her head against the cabinets just beneath Rainbow.

Sweetie Belle had been sent to bed after they had taken her statement. A little worried and her throat a little sore but none the worse for wear.

"I just can't believe that it would actually happen here of all places. I mean it is inconceivable!" Twilight said as she took another sip of coffee. Pinkie Pie quickly leaned over and refilled it, her own mug was filled to the brim, with fourteen shots of whipped cream and so much cream and sugar that it was a pale white.

"Where you scared? This must have been so scary for you I mean I know I would have been scared, I would probably have been all like whaaaa! And the robbers would have been all like GRRRRRGGGRRR! And I would have completely freaked out and probably-" Pinkie Pie stopped as she recognized the looks that everyone was giving her, the exasperated and slightly exhausted, 'this now Pinkie? Really?'

"Sorry." She said a little sheepishly and sat back down.  
"Perfectly alright darling, and to answer your question yes I was frightened, it was simply nerve racking. I do not know if I will ever be able to sleep again with people like that running around."

" Don't worry yourself none. I will be staying here, until you're asleep." Applejack responded, taking one of Rarity's shoulders in her hands and giving it an affectionate squeeze. Rarity covered it with her own hand and smiled up at her and returned the motion. Pinkie Pie popped up behind them at that moment.

"You probably won't have to worry, Rarity is tough, she can take care of herself. I actually saw the fat guy she maced. WHOOO! Did he look bad, she really let him have it!"  
"Probably not as badly as Fluttershy gave the girl, pretty sure she has a concussion now!" Rainbow Dash said proudly petting Fluttershy's soft hair. She really took good care of her hair, it was soft, puffy, well brushed and shone under any light. It was almost as soft as a cloud. And it normally took all of Rainbow Dashes power not to touch or play with it.

Everyone looked at the quiet girl with surprise. They were impressed.  
"It was really nothing-"  
"You straight up beaned her with a frying pan! She was all like oooowwww! and you were all like eeeepppp! It was great, you were awesome!" Rainbow Dash said, one of her highest praises. Fluttershy smiled pleased with herself.

"Rarity I know that the police probably asked you this already but do you have any idea why anyone might do this?" Sunset asked her friend. Rarity pursed her lips and shook her head.

"I haven't the slightest idea darling, I do not have much money on hand, the store is mostly automated, credit cards and the such you know?"  
"I have never seen anyone pay for anything here in my entire life." Twilight said Rarity waved it off and continued.  
"And what jewelry I had was left unmolested. The only thing stolen was my sense of security." She gestured around at the trash bin filled with broken china and twisted silverware, the graffiti on the walls, and out into the store room where the dresses and fabric where ripped and stained. They had tried to clean up but it would take them all day tomorrow it looked like to finish.

"So nothing was stolen? What was this then?"  
"I would say it was a threat." Sunset spoke up from where she sat, she had been staring intently into her coffee mug for the past five minutes or so.  
"Well I do agree it was threatening..."  
"No I mean someone was trying to threaten someone. Sort of like saying 'HEY YOU! WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE BLAH!' and shake them up a little bit." Sunset had read a lot of mystery novels in her time, probably just as many as Twilight. So this all seemed rather obvious.

"But why would anyone want to threaten moi? I merely design clothing."  
"Maybe it wasn't for you then. Maybe it was threatening someone close to you, your parents maybe? One of us?" Sunset spoke softly and frightened at the last words. Everyone looked between her and Pinkie Pie.

"Well it wasn't me!" Pinkie shouted defensively.  
"I can't think of anyone who might want to hurt me through one of you...it is just weird."

"I don't like this, not one little bit." Twilight said darkly. The rest of them nodded. They could feel it. Something sinister cooking, as if a dark cloud was brewing over their heads. And that a storm was about to burst over them all soon. A collective shiver went through them all. Sunset almost unconsciously seeked out Twilight's hand.

Twilight's hand reached out and took hers. They squeezed them attempting to get a marginal bit of comfort from the other. Something was coming, something dangerous, something bad. It felt as if the attack on Rarity's Boutique was just the tipping point. The first in a long string of events that would cause some untold strife upon them all.


	56. Chapter 56

Rarity sat up in her bed. She stretched and got out of it. Applejack had been right. Her staying over had really put her mind at ease. She looked down at the bed and frowned. When she had started to drift off to sleep Applejack had been beside her, cradling her almost until she fell into slumber.

She tutted as she saw some dirt on her sheets. Probably from the girls boots. She followed it and found a small footprint by her personal swooning couch. She smiled a little. The farm girl chivalrous to the end, she must have slept there once Rarity fell asleep. It wouldn't have been proper for two folks who weren't kin to share the same bed for a night.

Rarity heard a phone begin ringing. She quickly tied on her robe and went out and down the hall. Quickly pattering until she got to the kitchen stairs. She went down and paused in shock before reaching the landline.  
The entire kitchen was clean, the trash had been taken out and everything reorganized. There was a small breakfast prepared, oatmeal and yogurt with fruit and a small pot of tea.

Applejack walked in from the back door and nodded to her in greeting.  
"Rares."  
"What did you do?" She asked in breathless amazement at all of the hard work done.  
"Got up early. Cleaned what I could, made breakfast for you and Sweets. I left the stuff that you would probably want to go through yourself." Which meant of course all of the dresses, shoes, fabrics and other assorted clothing creating materials.  
"And the *ahem* 'artwork'?" Rarity gestured to the walls.  
"Removed what I could with elbow grease, covered what I couldn't with mirrors." Rarity turned and found herself face to face with her own lovely reflection. She smiled and preened for a few moments before turning back to Applejack and smiling widely.

"You have no idea how good to me you are."  
"Oh I know exactly how good I am. I just like doing it anyway." Applejack grinned cheekily back. She turned to the wall phone. "You gonna get that?"  
"Oh yes of course!" Rarity said recalling why she had rushed downstairs so quickly in the first place.  
"Hello?"

She listened and nodded, humming to herself a little. She smiled and her voice grew soft.  
"Why of course...I think that could work out well. Yes yes, of course she will be happy to see you. Alright then bye bye." Rarity hung up the phone and turned with a single raised eyebrow and a pleased look on her face.

"Well don't you look like the canary that ate the cat. What's the news? Spill."  
"That was Spike, he wanted to know if he could come over to speak with Sweetie Belle." She grinned at Applejack and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.  
"And you think that I'm too much." Applejack said grinning back. She had to admit those two were absolutely adorable. Almost as cute as Applebloom and Scootaloo.

"I should probably go and wake her up." Rarity said turning to leave.  
"Eyup, I should get going as well. Chores and the like." Rarity paused on the first step, it squeaked under her. She pivoted right around and stored over to Applejack. She looked her square in the face, and although she had to stand on tiptoes she gave the freckled farm girl a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you so much for all of the help." Rarity said appreciatively. Applejack blushed redder than a freshly harvested delicious. She stuttered a couple of words before backing out and waving to the fashionista. Rarity smiled and suppressed a giggle. She loved it whenever Applejack got flustered, it happened so rarely.

She turned and remounted the staircase. She got to Sweetie Belles room and knocked twice quickly to wake her up.  
"Oh Sweetie." She said opening the door widely and stepping in. She froze in shock and squealed, covering her eyes in surprise.

Sweetie Belle was getting changed and had just pulled on her skirt, she had not yet put on a shirt however and Rarity had been privy to a view of her little sister shirtless.  
"RARITY!"  
"I am so so so so sorry!"  
"Get out!" Sweetie screamed grabbing her bathrobe and flinging it on. Rarity turned around and promptly slammed the door shut. She felt as if she were hyperventilating. She put a calming hand on her chest and closed her eyes.

"You are growing up so fast." She said softly from the other side of the door.  
"DON"T SAY WEIRD STUFF LIKE THAT AFTER SEEING ME IN MY UNDERWEAR!" Shouted Sweetie from the other side of the door.

"I just wanted to tell you that Spike just called. He wanted to know if he could come over. I told him yes, so he should be here fairly soon." The door was flung open and a fully dressed Sweetie Belle stood there, her face ashen and she refused to meet her sisters eyes.

"Oh geez, I need to get ready. Does my hair look okay? I should wear makeup right? I'm going to borrow some makeup." Rarity grabbed her sister by the shoulder and pulled her back from her own bedroom door.

"No make up young lady. It is just a little hello. But your hair could do with a little brushing. I swear it is like a birds nest. Come along then." She lead her downstairs and fished around in her pocket for her emergency brush. It never hurt to have one on you at all times in case of something such as this.

"Did Applejack sleep here last night?" Sweetie said as she spooned some more oatmeal into her mouth. Rarity bit her tongue and pulled back with her arm.  
"Yes she did."  
"And she cleaned up too?"  
"Yesss." Rarity said cautiously uncertain where her little sister intended to go with this conversation. Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder and grinned.  
"That one's a keeper." Rarity put her hands on her hips and mocked agitation.  
"Now where did you ever hear something like that?"

Luckily the doorbell chose that time to ring. Sweetie shot up from her seat like a rocket on nitroglycerin and rushed for the front door. Leaving half of her head unbrushed and half of her meal unfinished in her excitement.


	57. Chapter 57

Spike was squeezing his hands tightly together behind his back. He wished that he had Applebloom's stress ball, he needed something to take his mind off of what he was about to do. It was for the best but it still made him feel very uncomfortable.

He wanted to pace, he tapped his foot even though he had rung the bell just a couple of seconds ago. He reached into his pocket and caressed the lighter that sat there, he had hidden this one underneath his mattress when they went through his room looking for any more contraband that he might have hidden away.

He heard the pounding of feet and had to suppress a smile. Even the sound of her feet made him happy. He shook his head, he needed to have a clear plan about all of this, he needed to be positive about it all. He couldn't let her perfection, or his feelings for her get in the way of what he had to do.

The door swung open and Sweetie Belle stood in front of him, a smile lighting up her face. Her hair looked a little disheveled on one side and she still had some leftover breakfast just underneath her mouth. Her eyes seemed to sparkled at him, like a couple of lovely pieces of gems caught in her face. She bounced on her tiptoes excitedly.

"Hi!" She said wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She acted as if she had not seen him for a few months rather than just a couple of days. He had never heard of a couple acting this way towards each other. Then again neither of them had cell phones so it wasn't like they could text or call each other, at all. They had to either go through their siblings or the landlines.

He kept his arms by his sides, even though he wanted to bring them up and embrace her, hold her so close and tight that she would actually disappear inside of him. Against his will, one arm rose and patted her gently on the back, just once and softly. She didn't seem to notice how stiff he was acting.

She pulled back and looked up at him, her face just below his chin. She smiled cutely and gazed up at him. Her eyes seemed almost completely closed from this angle, as if he had caught her sleeping.

'I haven't even seen her sleeping.' He thought to himself. She moved forward and upwards a little, her eyelids closing further and standing up on her toes. Spike quickly straightened out. He was completely out of her reach now. She paused and looked at him questioningly. He scratched the back of his head and self-consciously cleared his throat.

"Is everything okay?" She asked concerned. "You rushed out of Zecora's so fast and we haven't seen you for a while...we were wondering how you've been, if you ever need to talk about anything I will totally listen."

"Is there a private place where we could talk? Like right now?" Spike said, he was trying to look her in the eyes but it felt extremely difficult all of a sudden. She nodded slowly. Suddenly concerned by how formal he was acting. He almost appeared to be the same way as when they first met, just minus all of the blushing. He seemed guarded, and ill at ease.

"Sure. Come on inside." She walked back into the house. He took a deep breath steeling himself. It was now or never. And it had to be now. He followed her into the house, past the ruined showroom and through the kitchen. Rarity perked up visibly when they entered.

"It is so nice to see you Spike." She said grandly and chirpily. Spike nodded in response. Rarity frowned once they had started up the stairs, he was acting off. Concerned she rose and followed after them, avoiding the creaking stairs, she practically had to climb up the railing. She flattened herself against the wall right next to the living room and listened intently as they began to talk.

Inside of the room Spike motioned to the couch. Sweetie plopped down on it, absentmindedly smoothing her skirt out ladylike and patted the cushion beside her. It took all of Spikes inner strength not to cry at that moment. He instead took the small chair across from it and sat at the very edge of the cushion, his hands in his lap. He looked at her, his green eyes folding into hers.

Sweetie looked at him confused. The first feeling of dread began to form in the pit of her stomach. As if she wanted to burp up acid to relieve the stinging sensation in the back of her throat. She suppressed that urge and patted her hair back, she looked him directly in the eyes. She wanted to look beautiful and strong for her boyfriend.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about, why's it so important that we had to meet in here? Privately?" She tried to make the last word sound at ease and vaguely comedic. But the way his face fell to the floor she knew that it was serious. She reached out and took a hold of one of his hands. She could see the tips had been singed a long time ago, years maybe. Scar tissue had formed there, she had no idea how she had not noticed them before.

"You can tell me, just talk." She said bringing her other hand up to cup his.

Spike pulled his hand out from under her's and wrapped them together, it would be impossible to hold them now.  
"Sweetie Belle I have something important to say so listen okay?" She nodded in response, looking at him confused, her hands rested on her knees.

"I want to break up with you. I don't think we should be a couple anymore."

Her heart stopped and her head felt woozy, her world darkened and she felt the tunnel vision coming. She leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes for a moment processing, she clenched her dress right above the knees and felt the sweats coming on, she would probably soak through her shirt.

If she had fainted Spike would have taken it all back, would have broken and told her everything, probably cried and begged. But she did not faint, this was too important to faint in the middle of.

She leaned forward again and opened her eyes, they were wide, and wet. Like a pond in the middle of a summer heat wave. Spike wanted to dive into them and never come out. So of course he looked away.

"What?" Sweetie managed to whisper out. Rarity had heard everything and was next to the doorway with her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"I'm sorr- no. No I am not sorry. I want us to break up Sweetie Belle, I don't want to have to be your boyfriend anymore. Okay?" Spike said it calmly as if he had rehearsed it a thousand times. Sweetie Belle shook her head.

"I don't understand." Spike stood, he had said what needed saying, he was leaving now. "SPIKE!" She called out after him before he even got to the doorway.  
"Please, I don't understand, talk to me...just explain what the problem is I'm sure we can-"

"I wanted to be nice." He was clenching his fists and gritting his jaw. "I wanted to be nice about this but clearly you won't take that. We are breaking up Sweetie, I don't like you. Never have and never will. I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore."  
"But...but...you said...on our first date you said that you, that you-"  
"Yeah I said a lot of things didn't I?" Spike snapped whirling around. "I said I loved you, but that was a lie, I said I wanted to be with you forever, that was a lie. How do you not get this? Do I need to spell it out? We. ."

"But...why? Why are you saying this?" Spike did not answer, he was not looking at her at all, all of his words were to the ground. "Spike, I want the truth. Tell me it now."

He looked up at her, locked eyes and spoke.  
"Fine. I was using you.I have a massive thing for Rarity, I figured that if I got closer to her little sister I could get closer to her...then I figured a consolation prize was just as good." His face nearly broke when he said that, but he kept the facade up.  
"I do not believe you." Sweetie said confidently, her voice strong and not a waver in her step. She walked to him, a hand outstretched.

"What do you believe huh? I was trying to be nice, well here's me mean. Who in their right mind would ever want to date a spastic like you? Who would want to go to the trouble ofdealing with your weird seizures. It's disgusting, I wouldn't be caught dead with a moron like you."

"ENOUGH!" Rarity thundered from the doorway. She was standing in the middle, her arms crossed and hair wild. Her face red with anger and eyes slitted like a cat going for the kill.

"You get out of my house this very second. And don't ever come back." She threatened. It was one thing to say he had a crush on her, she knew that. But calling her little sister those horrid names?  
No.  
Not in her house.

Spike looked at the murderous woman and the softly crying girl. He did not say a word. He simply moved past her, walked down the stairs and out the door. He walked around the corner before collapsing against a building. He didn't care if he was in public. His face turned red hot, his vision broke and he cried. He cried more intently than he had ever cried before. He looked up at the clear cold sky and wept.

"Sweetie." Rarity said gently to her softly sobbing sister. Her shoulders shaking and her hair becoming damp from nervous sweat and tears, she had covered her open mouth with her hands as if to smother the sounds. All it did was give it a raspier quality to her vocal cords. Rarity reached to her and embraced her. Pulling her close to her bosom where Sweetie Belle latched on and softly cried until no more tears would come out.

 **wow that was sad.**


	58. Chapter 58

Spike picked out his cleanest clothes, his most unwrinkled sweatshirt and his nicest pair of underwear. If he was going there tonight than he wanted to at least appear presentable to them. It was nighttime now, he had broken up with Sweetie Belle earlier in the day, he had finished writing the perfect note to leave for Twilight and he had done all of his chores.

All that was left now was catching the bus down to the warehouse and confronting the old gang, whatever that might mean and whatever hardships that might bring. He had avoided Twilight all day, mostly by locking the door to his room and staying in it. Even when she banged on it and demanded to be let in. She had even camped out outside of his door earlier. He had heard her reading with her back against it.

Eventually she must have moved because the door had been unblocked when he snuck out to get some food. He wondered what it was that Rarity had told her, probably only what she had heard, and judging by how angry she looked it was everything. Spike got dressed and grabbed the note that he had written. He slipped his lighter into his pocket along with one single piece of rock candy and enough change for the bus to get him to the building.

He slipped outside and walked down the stairs. It was late at night, almost early morning. Night Light and Twilight Velvet had gone to the airport to pick up Shining Armor, his plane would be getting in late, and unfortunately it would land a few hours away. They had chosen to stay the night at a hotel a few towns over.

Spike wished that they had given him at least one more day, that way he would have been able to say goodbye to Shining Armor and maybe spend a little bit of time with Sweetie or something. Not have to break everything off with her so out of the blue. She would get over it though, she was beautiful, smart, funny, kind. She would find someone else and completely forget about him within a couple of months. He would just be a bad memory to all of them, a disgusting aftertaste in their mouths.

Probably for the best, this had all been too happy. Too perfect. He didn't deserve something like that to happen to him.

Spike crept down the staircase, hugging the railing so that he would not wake up Twilight. He got past the living room, intending to leave the letter he had written on the saltshaker or something, someplace where Twi would find it. Maybe they would even be able to find him before the parents got home.

He paused in the doorway to the living room. Camped out on the couch and leaning against each other were Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. They were sharing a blanket, Twilight was wearing some old glasses that she only put on whenever she had to study for an extended period of time. Sunset had one arm wrapped protectively around the wisp of a girl. Occasionally muttering in her sleep and pulling her closer.

Twilight had a smile on her face. Spike looked at the affectionate scene, all his, something like this in a few years, with Sweetie Belle. It could have been his. But apparently that was not what fate had in mind for him. He looked down at the letter one more time to make sure that it sounded perfect.

Dear Twilight

I am sorry that I have to tell you like this, but by the time you are reading this I am probably gone.  
I know that sounds ominous(You taught me that word!) but it is true.  
You will probably find me, or whatever is left at 149 Market Street, in a warehouse with a big red X on the door.

I got into a lot of trouble with some really bad people. And this was the only way out of it.  
I am sorry, I never wanted to hurt you, I never wanted to hurt anyone.  
I wanted to say thank you, thank you all for giving me this family. At least for a little while.  
I love you, and Shining Armor, and Mom and Dad. Tell everyone I say goodbye.  
Tell Bloom and Scoots that I am sorry.  
Tell Sweetie Belle that I am so so so sorry that I ever hurt her.

Goodbye Twilight.  
I'll miss you.

Love Spike.

He nodded, it was good, it would make the entire transition better for them. He just hoped that they wouldn't miss him too badly. Also at the back of his mind, he hoped that the old gang wouldn't hurt him for too long before finishing it.

He crunched the paper a little between his hands. It smudged the graphite a little but it was still legible. Especially the address and that was probably the most important part. He sighed and looked at it, it could have looked cooler.

If he had time he would have ran a match along the sides to give it an old and wizened look to it. But he didn't have any time to do that. No he had very little time at all. In fact if he didn't hurry he would miss the only bus that went to Market street at this time of night.

Spike moved quietly into the living room and gently placed the letter on the coffee table in front of Twilight. She would definitely see it when she woke up. He looked at her, she was so precious. So innocent. He leaned down and gave her a quick affectionate kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight Twilight." He said before straightening up and walking out of the room. He closed the backdoor and locked it. He placed the key down on the mat, he wouldn't need it anymore. Not where he was going. He walked down the sidewalk in the dark night. Hands in his pockets and head down.

"Spike?" Twilight slurred her words with sleep. She could have sworn she had dreamed he was right in the same room as her. She looked around, a piece of paper on the table in front of her, it had not been there before. She should really wake up and read it. She drifted back off into sleep.

Squatting in the bushes Silver Spoon yawned. She and Diamond Tiara had chosen to watch over Spike for a little while, just to make sure he was safe. It had been Diamonds idea not hers. But here she sat shivering in the morning dew. She looked up in surprise as Spike left his house, he bent down and left a key before straightening up and walking away.  
She had to text Diamond, their target was on the move. She took out her new phone and bit her lip, there were about three more people she needed to get too.

 **thanks a lot for reading this stuff you guys, I know it isn't the best stuff out there, but you guys are champs! I hope that if you enjoy reading this you'll leave a review our check out some of my other stories!**


	59. Chapter 59

Twilight fought to open her eyes. She sat up and rubbed at them aggressively. Her glasses hung on one earlobe before falling off and into Sunset Shimmers lap. Twilight looked at her girlfriend. Sunset had been sneaking over to her house for a few months now, she really didn't have to but with both of them staying up for so late and neither of them really sleeping it was nice to have someone to hang out with.

That was really how their dates started, study sessions late at night. Then it turned into Sunset spending the night, her parents not knowing that she was in the house made it seem slightly better somehow. Exciting. Twilight stretched, it was still pretty dark outside. She tried to remember why she had forced herself to wake up. Something about Spike wasn't it?

She frowned, it was too bad what happened with him and Sweetie Belle, but the way that Rarity talked about it...no that was impossible, it didn't sound like her little brother at all. Twilight looked down at the table. Sitting on it was a note, a little bent at the edges, but she was positive that it had not been there before she had gone to sleep. She picked it up and began to scan through it, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in uncomprehending amazement.

Dear Twilight

I am sorry that I have to tell you like this, but by the time you are reading this I am probably gone.  
I know that sounds ominous(You taught me that word!) but it is true.  
You will probably find me, or whatever is left at 149 Market Street, in a warehouse with a big red X on the door.

I got into a lot of trouble with some really bad people. And this was the only way out of it.  
I am sorry, I never wanted to hurt you, I never wanted to hurt anyone.  
I wanted to say thank you, thank you all for giving me this family. At least for a little while.  
I love you, and Shining Armor, and Mom and Dad. Tell everyone I say goodbye.  
Tell Bloom and Scoots that I am sorry.  
Tell Sweetie Belle that I am so so so sorry that I ever hurt her.

Goodbye Twilight.  
I'll miss you.

Love Spike.

"WHAT!" Twilight shouted out in fear. Sunset snorted and sat up next to her.  
"Wha's happening?" She said through a mouthful of sleep. Twilight quickly shoved the note into her hands. Sunset looked over it once before coming completely awake.  
"What is he talking about. Twi? What is Spike talking about?" Twilight was already up and on the group chat that the friend group had made, she needed help and fast.

Luckily enough it seemed that not many of them had gotten any sleep. She got all five responses within a matter of seconds.  
"We have to find him, we have to save him!" Twilight said anxiously. She was running around the room frantically trying to think of what to do next.  
"We need the van! No we need to wait for them to pick us up! No we need to call my parents! No the national guard! Sunset calm down!" Twilight shouted into Sunset's face shaking her aggressively. Sunset stood for a second before she took both of Twilights hands and soothingly shushed her.  
"Okay I am going to ask you to chill. Next we are going to sit here and wait until the van is here then want to know what we are going to do next?"

Twilight looked at her, her pupils dilated to an amazing degree, adrenaline coursing through her veins.  
"We are going to go and rescue Spike." Twilight nodded she then leaned forward and gave her girlfriend a sweet kiss on the lips.  
"Thanks for calming me down."  
"Well there has to be something useful that I can do for you." Twilight smiled and hugged her in response.  
"Who has the van anyway?"  
"It's Pinkies turn I think."  
"SO it should be here in?"

A crash from outside as a two ton van broke the mailbox in half and screeched to a stop just outside of their house. Pinkie rolled down the window and screamed, it was louder than the horn.  
"GET IN! NOW!"  
"Probably nowish." The two girls ran out of the house, hand in hand they got into the van and had just about a third of a second to buckle up before they were thrown back by Pinkies impossible driving speed. They reached speeds unheard of in a car that big and that old.

"Wake up!" The call came again. Sweetie Belle got up out of bed, she had more or less been comatose all day. Not moving, or eating, just laying there in a funk. She and Spike had broken up, it was over. Her life was over. She still walked to the window. Standing in the alley was Scootaloo and Applebloom. But to her surprise standing awkwardly beside them was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"What?" She called down.  
"Come here! We need to talk with you!" Applebloom whispered shouted to her. Her stress ball was out and going a mile a minute in her hand. Sweetie slowly and carefully walked outside, from out her room and down the stairs. She entered the alleyway and looked at the quartet in surprise.  
"What are you all doing here?"

"Something is wrong with Spike. We think he's in trouble." Silver Spoon spoke up before anyone else. Sweetie Belle flinched and stiffened, her face and voice hardened into granite.

"Why should I care, he broke up with me. Jerk. Called me a spastic, said he only liked Rarity" She tried not to cry, crossed her arms and looked down.  
"WHAT?! When did this happen?!" Applebloom shouted surprised. Scootaloo elbowed her and looked at her friend, one of the perks of being in a wheelchair, she could catch your eye if you were looking down.  
"Think about this Sweets. Does that sound like him? At all?" Sweetie did not answer, she already knew.

It didn't it really didn't.

"Fine then, he's in trouble. Where is he? and how do we help?"

Suddenly from around the corner the upperclassmen van careened to a stop in front of the Boutique. Rarity came running out, hastily buttoning up a white top, her shoes unlaced and not even wearing a jacket.  
"Where is he again?" She cried out loud.  
"149 Market Street! Now get in!" Applejack shouted and pulled her inside.

The four girls stood as they watched the van screech away into the night. They exchanged looks for a brief period of time.  
"Whatever, I can't just leave now." Diamond Tiara pouted.  
"Got your bike?" Applebloom said to Sweetie Belle, she nodded in response.  
"You guys?"  
"Eyup."  
Sweetie's eyes became hard as gems, she quickly unchained her white and pink bike with bell and hand basket.  
"Let's go." she said determined.

The five of them raced down the street, Scootaloo holding onto the back of Appleblooms trusted, rusty ten speed, it used to belong to Big Mac. Scoot's wheelchair flew through the night.  
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had a couple of gold and silver colored bikes. They struggled to keep up. Applebloom shot ahead shouting something about a shortcut. The only thing slowing her down to match speed with the others was Scoots.

Sweetie Belle gritted her teeth. Only one thought was on her mind. One person actually.  
Spike.


	60. Chapter 60

**i just realized that this is the longest story I've written. I'm proud of myself. I hope y'all are too because I'm proud of you.**

Spike got off the bus. He had finally arrived. This would be the climax of his entire freaking life. He could just tell. Nothing would beat this. And on top of that he probably wasn't going to survive the night. He took a deep breath, he had finished the rock candy on the bus. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't cried a little on the way.

He had been the only one on the bus so he chose to sit in the very far back, he had cradled his head and just let it out. So long, it had been so long and there was just so much!  
He had stopped a little way from home. He wanted his eyes to be dry when he finally met back up with Garble and the others.

He started down the sidewalk, careful to avoid any of the horrifying stains on the concrete. He stepped over a person he was pretty sure was dead, but they snorted and turned over into some cardboard so they must have still been alive.  
He walked carefully, mindful of broken glass, needles, and cigarettes.

Then he saw it, the building. It was old and horrendous, as if half of it had been sheered away from the rest. All of the windows were broken, and splinters the size of fists jutted out from the sides. The walls should have given up the ghost and just collapsed already. Spike walked around the side of the building.

Finally he found it, the big door, with the red X spray painted across it. Clearly an amateurish job. He had no idea how they managed to get it all done, he doubted they had any paint or spray. So they must have stolen some earlier.  
Spike brought his hand up, took one final deep breath and knocked.

The echo reverberated inside for a few seconds. He could hear it loud and clear. There was not much insulation. The door swung open slowly and Clunk was standing there grinning. He chortled before grabbing Spike by the shoulder and physically dragging him inside. The door slammed shut behind them. It sounded like a judges gavel swinging downwards.

Spike allowed himself to be dragged into the building. It was one enormous room, with a staircase leading along the side to an office. There were barrels everywhere, probably abandoned by the former factory owners. By the smell of them they were some sort of chemical. Spike shivered, the room was freezing, all of the hot air had traveled up to the ceiling.

A few rats scurried by, and he could see ooze spilling from a broken barrel. He was shocked, they must have been living in this place for months, it was squalor, it was disgusting. They passed a trashcan full of take out and discarded paper. He would have to guess a few months worth of garbage that they had accumulated squatting for so long.

The rest of the group were standing by a few hundred feet from the car, there was one other door leading into the factory and it was closed tight. They must have jimmied it open and parked the car inside whenever they parked for the night. There were a couple of chains that were shooting straight up into the air. Attached to the ceiling somewhere, it was too dark to really make out. The only light was from street lamps streaming in from the broken windows

One thing that Spike could make out however was how horrible the entire group looked horrible. Grunt's eyes were nearly shut and he kept making little groans, Crackle had no makeup on and deep rings under her eyes, she was sitting on the ground with her head thrown back. Garble looked jittery, his cigarette jumping in his mouth, he kept clicking his fingers together and his skin looked more burnt than usual. If Spike had to wager a guess he would say that he was looking on people under the influence of PCP.

"Spikey boy!"Garble said, as if he were a dad at a barbecue welcoming a close friend. Knowing how dark he could get Spike was prepared to get burned alive tonight.  
"You ready pal! This is the big one! After this it's all over! So long we are out of here!"  
"Lets just get this over with." Spike said quietly as he walked to where Garble stood. Garble grinned and wrapped an arm around the shorter boy.  
"Get it over with? Spikey I am hurt, insulted, actually, that you would want it done. We are going to make this last." He hissed the final statement into Spikes ear before pushing him to the ground. Spike broke his fall and in an instant Crackle and Grunt had the chains wrapped around his arms, firing them up and to either side.

His feet were almost off of the floor and he had to stand on tiptoes. His shoulders felt strained and he heard crunches from his back. A loose knot was tied in the remaining chain so that he could not just slip out. He looked up into the darkness and gave a little shake, the jingling went all the way up before stopping.

"I am going to enjoy this so much! This is what Christmas must feel like!" Garble said. The others laughed appreciatively. Garble walked forward and dragged Spike's head back roughly. Spike grimaced but kept looking defiantly at him.  
"I want this to last, you can shout and scream all you want. No one will care, but here's the thing. If I ever for a second think that you are faking any of it-I'm going to go to your pretty little girlfriends house, and I am going to unpretty her little face." Spike felt his skin grow cold, his eyes widened and he felt uncompromising fear lance through him.

"No. No leave her out of this."  
"Hey Garb. It was just supposed to be him man." Clunk said, he sounded nervous, clearly he never thought that they would ever get this far.  
"I know, I'm just saying if Spike doesn't play with us. Then we get to play with her. It's only fair." Spike gulped and nodded.

"Fine, just do it."  
"Glad to hear it! I'm first obviously. Once I'm done I want you three to torment him until it hurts to think got it?" The other three nodded, Garble had complete control of the mood once again.

He turned and grinned at Spike.  
"Round two! Ding!" He brought his fist flashing through the air and into Spike's eye.


	61. Chapter 61

**Sorry it took me so long to update this story guys, I wasn't really feeling it. I'm not sure if you guys are feeling it either, but don't worry, the end is in sight! Only a few more chapters, and then we'll all be done with it. If you liked my work, you can always check out my other story, but that's up to you.**

The van screeched to a shuddering halt and Twilight had to brace herself on the dashboard to keep from getting a concussion. Pinkie had gotten across town in what seemed minutes. Of course it was probably closer to an hour, but the streets were empty at this hour of the night.  
The rest of the girls in the back of the car were scrambling around getting themselves back together.

Rarity looked out the window and shuddered at the surrounding. It was very...urban, not a thing like the part of the town that they lived in, this place was decaying, it even smelt as if it were falling apart. Very few people lived here, and the ones that did normally wouldn't be that welcoming to people their age at this time of night.

"Where is this place?" Rainbow Dash shouted from the back of the van, she had been one of the last ones picked up and had to clamber over everyone. Twilight was actually touched that all of them had agreed to help her. To help Spike.  
"It's right over there. 149. With the red x on the door." Twilight pointed. The door was splintered and hardly holding onto the doorframe. Fluttershy shivered in fear and attempted to shrink back into the cushion.

"This place gives me the creeps." She whispered hugging her arms over herself. A second set joined her and Rainbow Dash rested her chin on the top of Fluttershy's head. She gave the girl an appreciative squeeze, it was lucky that Fluttershy had spoken up, if she hadn't then Rainbow Dash would have probably done something very impulsive, like just run screaming into the building, trying to be intimidating but probably just getting everyone into a world of trouble. That was probably the best thing about Fluttershy, she held her back, even when she wasn't aware of it.

"What's the plan here Twi? If what you're saying is true than Spikes in a whole different world of trouble." Applejack said leaning forward. Twilight bit her lip and looked over the building. A plan, she needed a plan, they needed a plan. And she didn't think she had one to give to them.  
A gentle touch on her shoulder came from Sunset, she had sat directly behind her as Pinkie insisted on driving and Twilight needed to be in the front seat to give directions. Although she shouldn't have bothered. It seemed as if Pinkie knew every single road in town. Even one this far out of the way of her normal routes.

"Okay. Okay. Okay." Twilight whispered softly to herself and then with more confidence to the others. "We can't go through the front door, there's only one, and if what Spike's note was right than there are a lot of them."  
"Judging by how old this place is I would say that it had a place in the back to load and unload cargo." Sunset said looking at the building. "Maybe there's another door that way?" Twilight's eyes lit up at the thought.

They had a great wavelength, if one did not know something than the other probably did, and on top of that it was easy for them to connect and move through the motions of a plan easily.  
"Yeah. Yeah that can work perfectly! Great thinking Sunset." Twilight said excitedly.  
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Pinkie Pie shouted and stomped on the accelerator, the van nearly rocking off of it's wheels as they screeched around the other side of the building.

Pinkie didn't even wait for the van to stop, she turned it off, opened the door and rolled out. Of course this lead to the rest of them screaming and Twilight stomping for the brakes. They were lucky that there were no other cars parked in the deserted parking lot. Pinkie Pie was already at the large sheet metal shudders that made up the back of the loading dock. One of them was opened just a smidgen.  
Pinkie ducked down and stuffed as much of her head into the crack as she could. She couldn't hear or see a thing,it was almost pitch black. She could make out a little bit of light further in, but it was blocked by a bunch of barrels.  
Pinkie pulled out the special satellite dish that she had started to carry around with her just for kicks. But wight he range on this baby, it certainly came in useful at times like this.  
She put on the headphones and worked on the dial, aiming the dish deep into the darkness. Then the noises became crystal clear. It sounded like fists on meat. Pinkie flinched when she heard someone cry out, she recognized that voice.  
"Spike." She breathed out, she pulled herself out from underneath and turned to everyone else. She winced as the dish clanked against the ground and sent feedback to the headphones.

"He's in there. And it sounds uber bad." Twilight made a little choking sound and quickly moved forward towards the girl. The rest of them quickly followed behind her until they were all lined up behind the door.  
"Maybe we should call the police." Rarity said nervously, biting the nail of her thumb.  
"Already did that, they said that they wouldn't be able to get here for like an hour." Rainbow Dash stated bluntly. Everyone looked at her surprised.  
"What did you do when they asked what it was about?" Fluttershy asked curiously.  
"Nothing I just hung up."

"Well then for all intents and purposes we are on our own here." Applejack said, she squinted into the darkness beneath the door.  
"We need to get in there. Then we need some kind of distraction. After that we should all just get out and run." Sunset said, she glowered, determined to help the kid brother of her girlfriend.  
"Yeah who would volunteer to distract them? It's a crazy plan-" Applejack said but paused and looked at Pinkie. The frizzied haired girl rolled her eyes.  
"If I must. But I'll need Rainbow's help. Cause I'm pretty sure that she's the best one in a fight."  
"HEY!" Applejack huffed indignantly.  
"Look the next time we rescue Twilight's little brother from pug traffickers you can beat them up okay?" She patted the top of Applejacks hat comfortingly. "The rest of you just get in, rescue him and then run. If you have to leave, I know the way home from here. Come on Dashie!" Pinkie grabbed the girls arm and shoved herself beneath the small opening, Rainbow Dash getting tugged along.

The others waited a few beats before quickly following after them.

"Here it is. Building 149, with the red x on the door." Applebloom said as she stopped her bike. The girls stood looking up at the old factory. They were out of breath, dehydrated and exhausted. And more than determined to break in and save Spike's life. Just like from an action movie.  
"So what's the plan here?" Silver Spoon said anxiously looking in every direction, she had never been to this part of town, never wanted to either. It was eerie.

"We break in, we save Spike, we go home." Sweetie Belle said, her voice dripping with authority.  
"Yeah? And where exactly do we break in?" Diamond Tiara said testily. She had never ridden her bike this far out before, it was probably going to get stolen.

Sweetie Belle just moved to the front door. She pushed it a little with her hand and the old wood creaked open. The others crowded around her, Silver Spoon audibly gulped.

Coming from deep int he darkness there were the sounds of punching, of laughter, and of pained grunts and occasional crying.


	62. Chapter 62

Spike hiccuped, he couldn't feel his face anymore. But he could feel every single hit that they gave to the rest of his body. He had tried to be quiet at first, be strong, or hardheaded or something. Show that they weren't going to break him. That lasted up until Grunt started in on his feet. Then he had started to yowl and jump around. Trying his best to get away.

But of course the chains were too strong, not to mention that they were chains, now he just hung limply in the air. What was the point? If he tried to escape he wouldn't get three inches. Clunk grabbed his hair and pulled back sharply. Spike hissed and more tears streamed down his face. It felt as if he were being stung by ants. Every salty tear that landed in a laceration brought him more pain and therefore more tears.

A sharp punch to his solarplexis and he was bent over gasping for air. His shoulders were wrenched around, one of them had started to jerk on the chains again. Crackle adjusted them and he felt his arms get pulled up higher, he had to stand on his tiptoes or else he would be entirely off of the ground.  
"Please. Please." Spike choked out.

"I said that the first night in the can. Want to know what they said to me?" Clunk snickered "They said no."

Clunk ripped a chunk of hair out. Spike cried out. A lighter was flicked and the hair went up.  
"Hey! Hey! Careful idiot!" Garble hit Clunk in the back of the head. "This is an old place! It's filled with chemicals and junk! One bad spark and we all burn alive!" Garble paused and grinned maliciously. "Oh Spikey I think I have the grand finale all ready now!"

A creak passed through the entire building. The four teenagers froze and Spike managed to lift his head just enough to see the door. It was wide open, someone had ducked behind some barrels. He could just make out the top of a head. But it was so dark that he couldn't identify who it was. Spike felt his breath freeze in his lungs. Twilight was too early, she was too early!

"Who did you tell?" Grunt hissed into Spikes face.  
"No one." Grunt hit him hard in the stomach for the lie.  
"Who did you tell?" Clunk said menacingly yanking his head again.  
"No one I swear!"  
" . ?" Garble took out a lighter, he brought it up to Spike's exposed wrist and flicked a flame. He held it up and against the skin. Spike gritted his teeth, more tears, he squirmed and gasped. He couldn't do it, he couldn't take it!

"My sister! I'm sorry I told my sister!"  
"You don't have a sister." Grunt snorted out.  
"Well he won't for much longer. Grunt? Clunk? Go get her, and bring her over here." Garble ordered. The two boys quickly moved across the floor and were almost halfway to the barrels before Spike could even comprehend what Garble was planning. It was wrong, it was bad. It was okay if he got hurt. But not Twilight! Not his sister!

"NO! Garble Please! No! Don't do this! I'll do anything! don't hurt her!" Spike was screaming, spittle coming from his mouth, he was blabbering, he couldn't even understand himself.  
"Too late Spike my boy."Garble wrapped an arm around Spikes shoulders before he kicked his knee cap. Spike would have collapsed if not for the chains. "So many years too late. You brought this on yourself, you know that right? Come on and say it. Say you deserve this? That's all I want to hear, I might not hurt her too badly if you say it. come on." Garble brought his ear close to Spikes mouth. His grin large and horrifying.  
"Say it."

Spike looked up, he closed his eyes, he took a deep breath. He had to do it.  
"TWILIGHT THEY KNOW YOU'RE THERE! RUN!" Garble pulled back and snarled, his ears!

A head popped up from behind the barrels. Spike's heart stopped beating. It wasn't Twilight. He recognized the red bow.  
"Twilight's here?" Applebloom said surprised. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's heads joined the redheads. Scootaloo glowered at her friend.  
"BLOOM!" She shouted.  
"What?"  
"Run!" Diamond Tiara screamed.  
"Too late!" Clunk shouted before he jumped over the line of barrels.

"Who are these guys!" Grunt shouted more confused than angry.  
"Idiot! We were spying on them for the past few weeks!" Garble shouted, there was a vein throbbing in his forehead which could not be healthy. "Grab 'em!"

The next few things that happened happened very quickly. Applebloom had started to push Scootaloo and run behind her, Silver Spoon grabbed Diamond Tiara by the hand and ran in the opposite direction. Sweetie Belle had been caught up by Clunk and lifted off of her feet kicking and screaming the entire time. Spike lurched forward as far as the chains would allow. With what little energy he had left he jumped and landed with both feet wrapped around Garbles waist, his neck and face in view. Spike bit down as hard as he could.

(And a diet that consisted of a lot of crunching of rock candy had strengthened his jaws and hardened his teeth.)

Garble shrieked and punched his as hard in the face as he possibly could. Spike fell backwards, blood oozing from his nose.  
"Let go of my girlfriend!" He shouted at Clunk, he couldn't hurt him but he had to at least say something cool before being murdered.

Garble turned and was about to kick Spike into a pancake when he was suddenly tackled to the side by a furious rainbow haired girl. Garble rolled and pushed Rainbow Dash off of him, she went sliding and landed heavily against the side of the car. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

"That the best you got!" She shouted.  
"Crackle! Kill her!" He shouted and pointed. Crackle cracked her knuckles and advanced like an angry dog.  
"Oh poo." Rainbow Dash said looking up at the quickly approaching mountain of a girl.  
"Come on Dashie!" Pinkie Pie popped up beside her friend and grabbed her arm pulling her away into the darker corner of the warehouse.

"What is going on!" Garble shouted in rage.  
"I got the fancy looking ones!" Clunk shouted pulling Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara by the hair, Sweetie Belle was flung over a shoulder kicking and hitting him with her fists as best she could. She had started to tear up. It was all going so wrong! So wrong so fast!

Grunt was pushing Scootaloo in her wheelchair as she shouted abuse back at him. Applebloom was trying to kick at him but he could hardly feel it. Most of his pain cells were probably dead from the mace.  
"What are you idiots doing?! Crackle! You watch these brats, you two go after them!" Garble gave orders. Clunk groaned before flicking his hair and handing Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiaras hair over to Garble.

Garble yanked them hard, they stopped crying and pepped in pain. Grunt pushed Scootaloo out of her chair and Applebloom had to jump to catch her. He snorted.  
"Lesbians. Gross." Clunk flung Sweetie Belle down, she looked up at him from where she sat on the concrete.  
"Screw you creeps!" She shouted. Garble drew back and kicked her in the back of the head.  
"NO!" Spike shouted lunging forward again. Sweetie Belle slumped over out like a broken light. She shuddered once before lying completely still.

"I will destroy you." Spike whispered. Garble turned and glared at him. Crackle reemerged from the back of the warehouse. Grunt and Clunk had left to search for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

"Spike. Buddy. Pal. Friend. My little friend. You are doomed." Garble smiled and took out a crushed cigarette, he lit up and blew some smoke into Spike's face.  
"Just come to terms with it man. You're doomed."

"We are so doomed." Rainbow Dash said as Pinkie jumped around the corner that they were in. Clunk and Grunt were directly behind them and closing in with their arms outstretched. Rainbow quickly dropped into a defensive stance, her karate fists up and ready.

Pinkie looked behind the two boys and smiled.  
"Oh I wouldn't say we're doomed just yet."


	63. Chapter 63

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry girls." Spike said, his head was hung in shame and complete and utter exhaustion. He gave up, there was no point. They had him just where they wanted him. He couldn't even protect his friends. His only friends in the entire world and he couldn't do anything to protect them.

"It's okay man, we're gonna get out of this pretty soon." Scootaloo said as comfortingly as she could. Applebloom was too busy giving Crackle and Garble the stink eye. The two of them were waiting for the other two to return with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash before they did anything. Garble just hoped that they had enough chain to wrap everyone up in.

He didn't want anyone to be able to escape when he started the fire.

"It really isn't okay! We're going to die here and it's your fault!" Diamond Tiara shouted, she was freaking out, holding a softly crying Silver Spoon in as affectionate a hug as she could manage. She was under some pretty understandable stress.

"Come on! Don't say that! We'll be fine." Applebloom said. Spike was looking at Sweetie Belle now, he just hoped that she wouldn't feel any pain when they set them on fire.  
"Shut up. Now or else all of you are getting knocked unconscious." Garble threatened, he had found a long length of chain and was slowly unraveling it. "Well all of you except him, I want to see him squirm when it happens. Not a bad idea huh Crackey?" He smirked at Crackle who didn't respond. She just stood at attention, her eyes going out of focus and her arms crossed.

"Please let them go, you have me."  
"YEAH! We won't say a thing!" Diamond Tiara begged.  
"Would you shut up!" Garble shouted. All of them fell silent except for Silver Spoon's sniffling. "Her Too!"

"Quiet Silver." Diamond had started to pet her friends hair comfortingly. "They'll let us go, you'll see."  
"No we won't so don't bother asking anymore. You've seen our faces and I know for a fact you will squeal the second you see a cop or something. Don't worry we'll make it go quick. Except for you Spikey. You are gonna be awake to see it all go down."

Spike's eyes widened as he looked into Garbles wide frantic, hate filled ones. He felt the end, this was it, he was going to die here. That finally came crashing down around him. He wasn't going to make it. There was a sudden crash.

Everyone turned to look towards the back of the building. Suddenly Clunk and Grunt came sprinting out of the darkness. Grunt was breathing heavily and holding his chest, Clunk looked frightened beyond cognitive thought.

"What are you two doing? Where are they!"  
"There were too many!"  
"Too many what?" Garble shrieked almost unintelligible from rage.  
"Too many us." Seven girls walked into the light. Spike thought he might just die from relief.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity shouted when she saw her sister.  
"Bloom!" Applejack looked as if she would murder anyone who put a finger on her Applebloom.  
"Hey kid you okay?" Rainbow Dash called, trying to sound nonchalant, but the way her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched it was clear that she was planning how best to eviscerate a person with her teeth.

Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were all glaring in rage, their fists clenched and their teeth gritted. Sunset's glare was cold enough to drop the air temperature. Rarity had adjusted her hair back into a ponytail as if preparing to go into a fighting pit. Fluttershy hovered near the back of the group fiddling with her fingers nervously, feeling even more nervous than she looked. Twilight walked forward, none of them stopped her.

"You are going to let Spike go, you are going to let those girls go. And you are going to wait in your car until the police arrive, and they have been called. You are going to do all of this by the count of two." Her voice was rock hard and steady as an arrow. Even Spike felt scared of her, the look in her eyes made it clear, that this was not up for debate.

"One. Two." She said one right behind the other. Clunk and Grunt moved to Spike and Crackle looked at Garble helplessly. He just took another long drag on his cigarette.  
"Guys. Make it so that they hurt to breathe." He then flicked the butt and it landed inches from Twilight's feet.

Crackle didn't even hesitate and was across the room in seconds. Her fists raised and her eyes blank. She swung at Rarity, Fluttershy shrieked and shrunk down behind her friend. Rarity backed up and tripped over Fluttershy, Crackles fist flew a bare inch where her face had been. Applejack roared and shouldered the larger girl to the side. She couldn't push her over but she was at least distracted by the farmer.

Clunk and Grunt gulped before turning and nodding.  
"It was nice knowing you dude." The two ran forward screaming, Grunt stooped once to pick up a piece of rotten board.

"Get the others out of here!" Twilight shouted at Rarity and Fluttershy, the two of them nodded and rushed to help the younger girls, who looked in slack jawed amazement at the fight occurring in front of them


	64. Chapter 64

Rainbow Dash was practically dancing around the larger and rounder Grunt, he would swing and she would duck. He would jab and she would dodge, he would try to grab her and all she did was dip out of the way. He screamed in rage and tried to grab her hair but it had slipped through his fingers like butter. Rainbow Dash felt a sharp left to his jowl and danced backwards.

"Man you are bad at this." She taunted. He gritted his teeth and tried for another punch. Rainbow just laughed and quickly skipped backwards. She brushed up against a supporting pillar and froze, Grunt took this opportunity and swung with all of his might. Rainbow Ducked and the sound echoed through the warehouse. Grunt howled and held his hurt and probably broken hand.

Clunk grabbed at Pinkie again, she merely popped up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, he turned and swung at her and she popped up to the side of his arm and blew glitter into his eyes. He screamed as they scratched his corneas.  
"What is this!" He screamed in pain. He began to claw at the air in a desperate attempt to grab the girl. Pinkie simply skipped around him easily avoiding his fingers. She began to hum a happy little tune, she sometimes would burst into song when she was under stress.

Applejack had been taught boxing from Big Macintosh years ago, she never really used it but sometimes they would affectionately throw a few swings when they were bored. She never thought she would need to use it against a six and a half foot two hundred pound goliath. Applejack tensed her legs and actually jumped up in order to land another solid blow to Crackles chin.

Applejack stumbled back and shook her hand out. It was like punching oak trees. The girl merely shook her head and advanced again. Applejack had no other choice but to keep on wailing on her. She normally didn't like fighting but she was good at it. She flung another punch this one at Crackles abs.  
This time Crackle actually threw a punch. Applejack didn't even have time to move. She felt as if she had just been shot. She stumbled backwards and held her forehead. Her entire world went bright white and then slowly tunneled. She must have a concussion at least.

"AJ!" pattering feet came up quickly behind her and suddenly Applebloom was beside her. She launched herself into the air and wrapped her entire body around a very surprised Crackle. She quickly climbed and got a hold of the larger girls ears and hair. She began scratching and tearing at her, growling deep in her throat.  
Crackle pinwheeled and finally got a hand up to grasp Bloom by the hair. She pulled and Applebloom's favorite bow was torn from her hair. Crackle tried again and actually managed to throw Applebloom off of her.

"Bloom!" Applejack shouted as Applebloom hit the ground and rolled. She held her side, as if her ribs were hurt. Applejack ran and knelt next to her sister.  
"I'm fine."  
"Don't scare me! Get out of here while you-" Applejack grabbed Applebloom and pulled her backwards. Crackle's foot came down hard enough to crack the concrete. Applejack got back into a boxer pose and started to bounce on the balls of her feet. Appleblooom did not follow her older sisters orders and instead stood up next to her, her own fists raised. Crackle looked between the two. She then started forward, her own fists raised.

Applejack ducked as another swing just missed decapitating her. She was forced backwards, Crackle paused as Applebloom began to hit at the larger girls back. Crackle turned and was just about to swing at the smaller girl when Applejack punched her full force in the back of the head, right by the neck.

Crackle grunted and turned again to face the bigger threat. Applebloom picked up a loose brick on the floor and whipped it as hard as she could. It bounced off of the back of Crackle's head and she stumbled forward.

Applejack thought for a moment that this entire thing might not be a complete disaster.

Rarity and Fluttershy were busily pulling on Spike's chains, they got one hand free, the chain link had bit into the meat on his wrist and left tracks. Rarity gasped and Fluttershy had to suppress the urge to try and kiss it better.  
"Look out!" Scootaloo cried out. Fluttershy screamed as Garble grabbed her by the hair and pulled her and Rarity backwards.  
"Let them go!" Sunset shouted. He turned to her slowly and flung the two girls onto their backs.

"I remember your face." He said slowly and softly. His hand was inching towards his pocket. Sunset wasn't going to let him get there first. She sprinted towards him and began to grapple with him. He fell back a little in surprise, but quickly regained composure. He pushed her back in anger. Sunset closed her eyes and felt something fall in front of the reasoning part of her mind.

It had been a very long time since she felt something like it. But she knew it, she knew it intimately. It was anger, the anger that she had used to feel every single day. And now it was back. She needed it, she needed it to fight this guy.

She screamed, high pitched and filled with malice. Garble actually jumped backwards as Sunset came sprinting at him, her hands angrily clawing at the air. He blocked with an arm and she scratched deeply into his arm. He shouted and tried to punch her, she grabbed his arm and bit him hard as she could. He shouted in pain and raised another fist to try and punch her free of him.

Suddenly another weight was wrapped around his free arm. Twilight was trying to hold on to his upraised fist for dear life. He looked between the two girls trying to weigh him down. With a bit of quick arm work he slapped Twilight across the face as hard as he possibly could. She gasped and flew off of him. Sunset's eyes widened at the smack and she released his arm from her teeth. He did not have long to celebrate as she punched him in the face as hard as she could. And seeing as she could shimmy up a drain pipe in the middle of the night, she could certainly deal a lot of damage with a punch.

Garble staggered back, touched his nose and winced, it was broken. If he was lucky.

"Is she alright?" Scootaloo asked nervously as Rarity slowly tapped Sweetie Belle on the side of the face. Sweetie whimpered and shifted. Rarity sighed in relief.  
"She'll be fine, but I'll need to carry her..."

Fluttershy was fussing with Spike's chains nervously pulling and twisting, they had gotten one hand free. And then the other was just barely wrapped.  
"It is all going to be okay Spike, we're gonna get you out of here and-"  
"Just leave. Just go." Spike whispered, he didn't mean the words, but he didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of him. And all of his friends were currently getting hurt.

Fluttershy kept working as if she hadn't heard him. His second hand came free, he almost fell but recovered quickly.  
"Can you walk?"  
"Yeah." He said softly. He wasn't pushing her away, or falling to the ground in a heap. He had to make certain that they all at least got out of the warehouse and away safe and alive.

Fluttershy turned and dropped beside Sweetie Belle and Rarity. She tutted in concern and slowly opened one of Sweetie's eyes, the pupil dilated which was a good sign she thought.

Applebloom went flying over their heads and landed heavily next to Scoot's wheelchair. Applejack went running past them and quickly checked over her little sister.  
"Bloom! You okay!"  
Applebloom looked ashamed at getting flung across a room by someone. She nodded. Crackle stomped across the floor and lifted Twilight up from it.

Sunset paused, she had seen something happen out of the corner of her eye. She gasped and paused. This gave Garble enough time to rush away. Crackle raised Twilight as high as she could. She then jumped, her back arching to give maximum fling. Sunset didn't think, she dove.

Twilight landed heavily on her. The two gasped in pain. Crackle brought a leg back and kicked as hard as she could into Sunset's thin side. Sunset cried out in pain.

"It's over." Garble had Pinkie Pie by her large locks of hair and was dragging her, kicking and screaming to where they were all gathered. Clunk and Grunt held Rainbow Dash by her arms. She was shouting obscenities the entire time.

The two girls were thrown with the others. The four delinquents looked down at their battered and bruised quarry. They did not look much better, with broken hands, noses, black eyes and blinded by confetti.  
"Now then, which one of you am I going to skin alive first." Crackle said as he stalked around them. "You know what, I think I'm gonna let Spike choose. Who's it gonna be tough guy?" He grinned and looked.

His smile froze and then turned into a frown. Rarity smiled smugly to herself and Rainbow laughed out loud.  
"Not so smart now are you?" Twilight said bitingly from where she was laying on the cold concrete.

The chains were empty. And Spike was gone.


	65. Chapter 65

Spike huddled behind the car. He tried to stifle his breath, it was too loud. They would hear it. Garble was walking around in an aggressive circle. He was shouting and raving.  
"SPIKE! SPIKE! COME OUT NOW SPIKE!" Garble screamed, he kicked at a piece of fallen wood in anger. He whirled around and pointed at Clunk and Grunt.  
"YOU TWO! Go and find him!" The two started to walk off, he then shouted again.  
"NO! Then this lot will get away." He threw a kick at Pinkie Pie's leg, she quickly pulled it back and growled at him. Garble wandered around and began to rub his head and neck, the blood was drying across his face. It looked redder than usual, like he had pushed it into a furnace.

"SPIKKKEEEE!" He screamed again.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Spike began to whisper to himself. He had to get out of there, no he needed to rescue everyone, no he had to call the police, no he had to run. What should he do?  
He couldn't run they would kill the girls, he couldn't stay hidden or else they would find him, he couldn't get help, they would probably hear him leaving. But he had to do something!

Spike took a deep calming breath, his inner monologue was blabbering again. And he didn't make sense when he blathered. He had to think of something, and quickly.  
The problem, they were all trapped by psychos, said psychos had his friends, and if he moved they would hear him, if he stayed they would find him.

"Spike if you don't come out now, I am going to start cutting pieces off of these chickies, one of 'em must have seen you run away eh?" Garble gave a laugh that sounded like sandpaper. He pulled a long thin hunting knife all folded up from his pocket. He flicked it open and tested the edge with his thumb. He winced and allowed some blood to trickle onto the concrete floor.

"Sharp enough to cut through bone buddy boy! Who should it be first guys? His sister?" Garble pointed the knife at Twilight who glared at him and gripped Sunset's hand.  
"The pals?" He aimed it at Applebloom and Scootaloo who were suddenly grabbed in bear hugs by Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Touch a hair on their heads and I am going to wear your guts for a hat." Rainbow Dash threatened low in her throat. Garble walked a little way more and grinned large enough to cause his nose to creak.  
"Maybe your girlfriend?" He shouted the last word to the rafters. Spike heard each word loud and clear.

"If you come near my sister, or any of us for that matter; I assure you... you ruffian I will find the most painful of ways to make the remainder of your life painful." Rarity spoke calmly and with perfect clipped clarity. Sweetie Belle seemed to be stirring against her lap. Her eyelids fluttering.  
"Rare-ty?"

"Come on Spike! Come out and they'll go free! Scout's honor!" Garble held the knife up high. Spike massaged his head and ducked back beneath the windows of the car. He had to think.

"Maybe he's in the car?" Clunk said coming up next to Garble. He looked down at the boy and frowned.  
"Yeah that's where I'd go." Grunt said coming up to the other side of Garble. His frown increased, trying to think.  
"Fine go check it out." It was in sight so the girls probably wouldn't try anything funny. Grunt and Clunk began to stalk towards the car, their bodies low and their arms outstretched like football players. Spike looked under the car and could see their sneakers coming closer. If he was going to choose something he had to choose soon.

Applebloom had seen where Spike had run off to. She was pretty sure a few of the others had too. He was fast but not that fast. And now he was going to be found out and they would be in even deeper dung. She took out her stress ball and squeezed it, she was nervous, and horrified, and scared and a bunch of other words only Sweetie Belle would know.

Applebloom looked at where they were walking and then down at her stress ball. Their backs were to her and the others. She stood up and flung the ball in the opposite direction. It went flying and hit the top of a barrel, a deep resonating bong filled up the warehouse.

She sat back down. Clunk, Grunt and Garble turned and looked at where some barrel's were stacked. A wicked grin split across Garble's face.  
"So that's where he is. Go get 'em." Clunk and Grunt quickly took off in the opposite direction of where Spike actually squatted. Applebloom breathed a sigh of relief before stiffening. Crackle, the big girl, she had seen her throw the ball. She looked up over her shoulder at the large girl. But she was just staring into space, as if she wasn't even really there.

Spike leaned against the car. He had some more time, but the instant that they realized he wasn't actually there they would search the car again. He had to do something. He sat down on the cement and let his legs go out. Something rolled against his leg. He looked down. Tapping his foot was a jar. A familiar looking jar. One that had a flower inside of it.

Dragon's Dew. He thought he had lost it, or they had smashed it. But it was still alive. And slowly turning and uncurling like a snake. He quickly pulled it to him, an idea began to come together. Spike cracked open the top of the sealed jar, some air escaped between his fingers. He brought the jar to his nostrils and took a sniff. Yep, he recognized that smell. Flammable.

Spike quickly crawled to the gas valve in the side of the car. Carefully, slowly, painfully aware of every second ticking away Spike opened the valve and slipped the Dragons Dew from the jar. It seemed to dance in his palm, like something that was once alive. Spike quickly began to stuff the stem down into the gas tank. He only hoped that this would work.

He flipped out his lighter. He flicked it on and held the slowly softly expanding flame to the flowers petal. At first it looked like nothing was going to happen. It was either too damp or the liquid wasn't flammable enough. But then the petal lit, and the fire began to eat along the actual flower and to the stem. Spike watched, eyes glittering as the flame ate away and into the gas tank.

Suddenly realization hit him and he went sprinting out from behind the car.  
"THERE HE IS!" Clunk shouted and pointed.  
"EVERYONE RUN!" Spike shouted, his hands over his head.

Then the entire warehouse exploded in a fiery inferno.


	66. Chapter 66

**Please review**

The car exploded, the fire had gone directly into a full gas tank. The car flipped over, flaming wreckage scattered around it. A huge warm hand pushed Spike forward and he stumbled and almost fell. Clunk screamed and grabbed his shoulder where some fire had hit.

The car had flipped and smashed against a line of barrels, barrels that were very old and corroded. They burst and unusual smelling liquid splattered everywhere. A single lick of flame slapped against the fluid and it went up faster than gasoline.

Within moments Spike was getting picked up by Twilight, her arms under his shoulder, she was almost carrying him like a football. Grunt and Clunk were yelling in outright terror at Garble who was just standing and looking in wide eyed amazement at the flame that was eating away the dry walls of the abandoned building.

Rainbow Dash was pushing Scoot's wheelchair fast enough that they were almost flying, Scootaloo had to hang onto the armrests with gritted teeth and white knuckles hoping that she would be able to hang on. Applebloom was helping her sister, who after fighting Crackle was still a little woozy and could not go as fast as she wanted.

Spike was seeing all of this out of the corner of his eyes. Because everything was happening so fast, the fire was streaming down the walls and across the floor. More old barrels, eaten through and through by rust and corrosive chemicals were exploding all around them, their lids popping off and imbedding themselves into the ceiling. The air was too hot to breathe, yet there seemed to be very little smoke from the fire. But it was hot. Clunk's shoulder was still burning from where he had gotten hit.

Only the roar of fire could be heard, all of the screaming and shouting could only be understood by reading lips, and the pushing and shoving and running was done entirely in the mute. Clunk and Grunt eventually turned tail and ran out behind Spike and the girls. Garble walked slowly out behind them, in shock.

They were outside in the night air. The flames burned bright and the entire night sky was a dark blue color from the flames reflection. The group could only look up in fear and awe as the fire continued to fly up into the sky. Sparks would shoot up at random intervals before falling back to the ground like stars.

"What did you do?" Diamond Tiara said horrified. Spike could only shake his head, at a loss for words. This...this was by far the largest fire he had ever set in his life. Nothing, absolutely nothing would be able to compare to this. He felt a twitching in his lips, a fluttering around his stomach and a tightening in his vocal cords. He bent over and he laughed.

The feeling of euphoria that flowed through his body was overwhelming, it wasn't just the fire; that played a significant part but it wasn't just that. He was outside, something he thought he would never be able to see again, he was breathing in the night could feel the heat on his face and on his back where an enormous warm air pocket had forced him to fly. He was out and alive and his friends saved him, everything felt good. Everything felt okay. Even the pain in his stomach and face felt great.

He was alive.

"Spike." Sweetie Belle. She was behind him, he turned and looked at her. She gasped in shock at what had happened to his face. "Spike, please, what happened?"  
"I-"

"You. You did this." Garble was out of the burning building, a massive crack resounded and the roof began to cave in. He looked back and then he turned his hot angry gaze to Spike.  
"You're responsible for this. CLUNK! GRUNT!" He screamed, but there was no answer. They were already down the street and running as fast as their feet could carry them. Garble looked after the two in shock.  
"COME BACK YOU COWARDS!" He screamed in rage.

"Dude, let it go. It's over, the cops are coming." Rainbow Dash said, she was suddenly in his face and poking him in the chest. Sirens were off in the distance and getting closer each and every second. He looked at the girl and backed up, he turned around wildly. He was surrounded in a loose semicircle of crazy, slightly hurt and very angry teenagers. Spike was standing beside Sweetie Belle, Garble looked at him and began to approach before pausing. There were too many of them for him to do anything.

"I can't go back. Crackle! Kill them! Kill them all you Freak!" He shouted out into the night. There was no answer, she had disappeared faster than the other two, and there was no evidence that she had even been there to begin with. "I can't go back. I can't go back. I can't go back." He began to mutter and pace side to side like a caged animal.

"Garble. Please. It's over, we can vouch for you, this can go easily." Spike said softly and soothingly. Garble turned to look at him, his eyes wide and wild only anger and fear in them. And Spike got the sudden impression that he was back in that horrid place, that horrible place that started his life.

"If you wanted to help me then you should have done that years ago." Garble hissed out. He looked at Spike,pityingly. "Do you remember what life back there used to be like Spikey? I was the head honcho, best at everything. Back in the joint I was...I was nothing. But back at the home...oh ho boy! I was the smartest, toughest, strongest, fastest runner, fastest tree climber. Best at knife throwing."

His hand was in and out of his pocket before anyone could move. The blade was out and spinning. Spike could see it move, but it was not flying towards him. No if one thing could be said about Garble it was that he liked Spike to put himself out. The knife was on a direct collision course for Sweetie Belle. She stood frozen as a statue, her eyes wide, she could not comprehend any of it.

However Spike could. And he did.

Sweetie Belle and Spike found themselves on the ground. Garble was tackled by Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ and Sunset. Rarity and Twilight were above Spike and he would swear that they were shouting but he couldn't hear them. All he could hear was the pain in his stomach, and sirens, so many sirens. He looked up at the sky, fire flowing up towards the moon. It would be a lovely final thing to see.

But he turned his head, laying beside him, her eyes wide with concern and terror was Sweetie Belle. And that was probably the greatest sight for Spike to end his life on. He closed his eyes, the pain in his chest from where the knife had hit clenched, and he smiled.


	67. Chapter 67

**Almost done here folks thanks for sticking with it.**

Spike was eighty percent sure he was dead.

He could not feel anything, and for some reason that felt great. He could not see anything, but that was probably because his eyes were closed. He could hear a few things though.

A page was flipped, some very soft breathing, someone was shifting directly to his left, and beyond that the gently clamor of a hospital at night. Someone, somewhere was crying softly. Or it at least sounded soft from walls and room separating them.

Spike cracked open an eyelid. He was in a hospital bed. He was pretty sure he was in hospital bed. And he was really thirsty.

"Aaaahhhhh." He breathed out. There was a bunch of rustling beside him and something was dropped. Suddenly Twilight was all that he could see, there were bags under her eyes deep and dark enough to drown in. Her hair was a mess and she smelled vaguely of perfume.

"SPIKE!" She shouted grabbing him up in a hug that lifted him off of the bed. He gritted his teeth as he felt something stretch along his stomach. Twilight realizing that she probably should not be picking him up abruptly dropped him before covering her mouth in shame.

"Oh gosh! I'm sorry. Spike! Oh man, Spike!" Twilight shouted out again. "Are you thirsty you must be thirsty, have some water." She quickly filled a glass halfway with water. The jug and clean glass had been left on a table that was just out of his reach.

"Twi-light?" Spike eased out. Twilight gently helped him up into a sitting position. He did not object when she softly placed the glass against his lips. The water was possibly the second sweetest thing he had ever tasted. First being Sweetie Belle's lips after she had a milkshake.

Spike had to keep himself from choking on the water and looked up at Twilight, he could move his head slightly but it was very painful to do so.

"Wha, happened?" He eased the question out like it was made out of glass. Twilight looked at him, the look in her eye was a strange mixture, one of nurturing and fear and love and concern all mixed into one enormous ball of compassion.

"Spike, you, oh jeez Spike you were stabbed, and then you fainted, it was..." She covered her mouth and looked away in pain "We thought you were dead."

"Is-okay." Spike tried to ease her mind, he reached forward and patted her on the hand. Twilight took his in hers and smiled at him. There were tears glittering in her eyes.

"A lot of people saw the fire, the fire department came, saw all of us fighting in the parking lot, and for lack of a better idea arrested everyone. They of course took you to the hospital. Everyone's parents bailed them out and we got here as fast as we could. But you were already in surgery so-"

Spike's brain was melting, surgery? Hospital? People were arrested? How long had he been out?

"Twi? How long was I asleep?"

"For around seventy six hours. Give or take."

With all of the strength in him Spike brought a hand up and rubbed at his eyes. Over three days. Whoa.

"Where is everyone. Is Sweetie Belle okay? Did Garble hurt her?" Spike froze up and had to cough "Did Garble...wh-"

"He's in jail. There hasn't been a trial or anything. But he is being held for questioning. A bunch of high school girls yelling that he stabbed a little boy with his knife tends to have that affect on people."

Spike pouted "I'm not a little boy."

Twilight leaned over and began to muss up his hair, she kissed him on the ear.  
"You are now and always my little brother. And just so you know. Sweetie Belle is fine, she had a concussion but she was lucky. We all were."

"I am so sorry Twilight. I never wanted you to have to experience any of this." Spike spoke earnestly, his face showing the deepest wells of emotion that he could muster. He never wanted it to happen, he wanted to move on with his life, live a small, quiet, ordinary, happy little existence. And all he got was dragging his friends and family into heartache and pain.

"Spike it is not your fault. No one blames you. We definitely want an explanation within the next few hours-"

"Wait, what do you mean?"  
"Welllll. Everyone is sort of, camped out in the waiting room right now." Spike's head plopped back onto the pillow. He brought an arm up to his face and rubbed at his eyes.  
"What! What is it?" Twilight asked fearful, Spike was once again in pain and she didn't know what to do. "What's wrong?" She said desperately.  
"Nothing, everything is right. I just-I never thought I would have people waiting for me at the hospital." Spike's voice was wet with tears and snot, he blubbered a little longer before Twilight grabbed a kleenex from her pocket and handed it to the boy.

Spike accepted it gratefully and cleaned himself up.

"Mom, Dad and Shiny are here too. They went to get some food from the Cafe. They'll probably want to know you're up."  
"You can go get them if you want." Spike offered. Twilight started to get up but paused at the doorway, her hand hanging onto the doorframe.  
"Don't leave this time okay? We all want to see you."

Spike smiled and motioned to the bed. It might have just been a hospital bed but it was the comfiest he had ever been in.  
"I'm not going anywhere." Twilight smiled and quickly strode out of the room. Spike heard talking from down the hall. He couldn't make out a word of it, that is until Pinkie got the news.

"SPIKES AWAKE!" She shouted triumphantly. Then the hallway was a flurry of sounds and activity. A rolling wheelchair, crashes from overturned medical equipment, shouts and complaints, and a chatter from a bunch of concerned excited girls.

The first one to the door was Scootaloo, which was where the first problem started. Her chair was too big for the frame, Rainbow Dash was next in her own chair for some reason. Applebloom, AJ, Rarity and Pinkie were crowding around the two stuck girls. Sunset Shimmer was staring over everyones heads trying to get some sort of order. Spike could make out two bobs of hair that color could only match Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon; he wondered what they were doing there, Fluttershy was at the back, screaming for people to get out of her way. Her eyes were bloodshot and streaming tears.

Suddenly something was wriggling through the tangled forest of feet. A familiar head, wrapped in stark white bandages appeared. Spike watched openmouthed as Sweetie Belle dragged her clean dress across the floor, stood and sprinted the last five steps to his hospital bed.

Where she promptly flung herself against him, her face cradled against his shoulder and hugged him tight enough for his stitches to creak.

"Sweetie." Was all he could breath out.


	68. Chapter 68

"You colossal idiot!" Sweetie shouted, she pulled back and grasped his bandaged up face with both hands and glared at him with as much anger as she could muster. Her bottom lip was trembling, and there were tears in her eyes but they still stung him like chips of precious stone.

"I didn't think that I would see you again." Spike said softly, his hand started to travel towards where some of her hair stuck out of the bandages. He paused and let it drop back down. She wouldn't want him to touch her, he looked horrible, covered in tubes and wires and with his face wrapped up in probably a pound of plaster and bandages.

"I am so sorry." He whispered out. Sweetie sat back down on her haunches and looked at Spike, the tears began to fall from her eyes and she wiped at them angrily. "You didn't deserve any of this, I am so sorry that you got hurt. I didn't want you to get involved."  
"What made you think that I would let you do something so crazy! I'm not going to let some crazy people murder my boyfriend!"

His heart nearly burst out of his chest, the machine keeping track of his heart rate began to beep faster, faster, and faster still. He looked at her and he was positive that she was an angle.  
"But...but I-you still want to be my girlfriend?" Sweetie smiled softly at him and grabbed his hand, she covered it with both of hers.

"Only if you still want me to be your girlfriend. Do-do you?" She asked her eyes wide and terrified that he might answer no. Spike smiled, it hurt his face so much but he relished the pain, it meant that he was alive, that he was alive and that Sweetie Belle still wanted to be with him.

"Yes. Yes so much." Sweetie squealed and launched herself onto him again. Spike winced a little in pain and she pulled back.  
"SO SORRY!"

"Break it up lovebirds." Rainbow Dash said from the doorway, the remaining group marched in and filled up the entire room. Sweetie stayed seated on the bed next to Spike which gave a little room. Rainbow Dash was up out of the wheelchair that she had been in, but was leaning heavily between Applejack and Fluttershy.

"Oh this is positively the fifth sweetest thing I've ever seen." Rarity said as she kneeled next to the bed and petted Sweetie Belle's head, Sweetie leaned into her hand and smiled softly.

"Am I really the only one still sort of angry at him?" Scootaloo said as she was pushed up next to the bed, she reached over and flicked him on the ear. Spike grabbed it and had the decency to look ashamed of himself. Scootaloo then affectionately patted his shoulder. "I am so glad that you're not dead, but still, what the heck was all that about?"

"Yeah you owe us some 'splaining at least." Applebloom said, she had a black eye and her arm was in a sling. Spike closed his eyes, they were all hurt, to differing degrees sure; but they were still hurt, and all from trying to save him.

"Just for the record, I am still mad at him." Diamond Tiara said raising her hand. Silver Spoon quickly grabbed it and pulled it back down blushing.

"You have every right to be. I shouldn't have dragged any of you into that."  
"No what you should have done is told everyone what was happening so that we could help you get out of it. And any way what was that? We all want an explanation." Sunset said authoritatively. The others nodded and voiced their agreement.

Spike nodded. "Okay, you all need it I guess, but first...do you mind if we wait for the others to get here first? I want to tell them too."  
"Of course dear, we don't want to exhaust you on your first day awake." Spike smiled gratefully at Rarity, Sweetie Belle tightened her grip around Spike and tried to nestle herself closer to him.

They did not have to wait very long for the others to show up. They heard the pounding of running feet and the crash as another priceless medical instrument was broken by someone.

The door wasn't really flung open as there was not enough room, but it was forced open. Shining Armor pushed himself through the opening, he was still wearing his army uniform, dark bags under his eyes and his hair a typical mess. He was quickly followed by his mom and dad.

"SPIKEY!" Velvet shouted before she pushed her way through the girls and almost picked him up out of the bed. Shining Armor was beside her in a second and grabbed him around the shoulders and pulled him closer to him.

"SPIKE! I'm so happy you're okay!" He was crying softly into Spike's hair, Spike felt tears prickle at his eyelids and gulped repeatedly.

"I'm so happy to see you guys."

"Okay, okay, put him down, that is probably terrible for his body." Night Light said gently prying his son and wife from Spike. He leaned down and kissed Spike gently on the forehead. "How are you feeling son?"

Spike was speechless for a single second. In that second he replayed the words that had come from Night Light, sure he had called him son once or twice before but this...this felt like it was cementing it in.

"Forget that! What were you thinking Spike! Why did they want to hurt you to...to..." Twilight was gently hugged by as many people as could get around her.  
"You owe us an explanation Spike. And we want to hear it now." Velvet said crossing her arms. Spike took a deep breath, he looked at everyone in the room, all of these people, these people who cared about him so much. He heard the heart rate monitor go off again. He took a steadying breath and blinked a couple of times to gain composure.

"It started a few years ago, when I still lived at the orphanage. While I was still...well tormented by the others. That's how I got all of...well those." He gestured down to his body he even lifted a section of the blankets covering him to show off the older scars. The girls who had never seen them before gasped and he heard Fluttershy cry out in shock.

"We would play games where they would see how much they could hurt me, hold matches to my skin, stuff like that. It wasn't too bad, I could deal with it, I was tough.I know it sounds terrible, but well...I learned to put up with a lot. They were all so much bigger and older than me. And they said if I told anyone they would...well they would kill me." Spike looked down at his hands and his jaw tightened. "At least when they committed crimes they left me out of it."

"Spike you should have told someone." Velvet said as she brushed his hair. He leaned into her palm and took a deep breath.  
"I know, but I was so young. Not to mention they threatened to tell people about...about how I liked fire. How I would...set them." He looked up, no one blinked, no one seemed to care. They accepted it, they accepted one of his greatest secrets.

Back at the home, where everyone was punished for any minor offense, it felt amazing to get it off his chest. But then it was time to tell them his next greatest secret.

But one night...one night it all changed."

 **thank you for all of the reviews and please send more!**


	69. Chapter 69

**Thank you all for the great reviews. Please keep them coming. Only about two or three chapters left, so thank you all for staying with it so far!**

Spike snuffled in his sleep and turned over onto his side. His back was sore from where the others had decided to throw rocks at him a couple of days ago. A howl of wind blew around the stout house and eased into the cracks, the old boards were supposed to be replaced a couple of years ago but somehow the money in the budget kept disappearing.

That was another reason Spike had to sleep on the military cot pushed into the corner, there were only four beds in the room so he had to either share or sleep on the cot. And he would never share a bed with any of the others. He pulled the blanket tighter around him, he wished that he could sneak away to the living room and start a fire in the fireplace.

But someone was bound to notice. Anyway he would have to borrow a lighter from the others, and they would kill him if they found out he had stolen one of theirs. So he just had to make the best of the thin blanket.

At least his dreams were pleasant enough. Well not exactly pleasant pleasant, it wasn't like he was in another universe, or a superhero or anything cool like that, he was mostly just remembering what they had done a few weeks ago. Ever since the five of them had been kicked out of the public school because of the little 'fire' (which could still not be linked back to them!) they had to be homeschooled. It was a bitter sweet experience. For one thing they only had to learn whenever their guardian felt like teaching them, which wasn't often. But that also meant that the five of them were left unsupervised more often.

It was a real disappointment for Spike, he actually wanted to learn! He liked finding out new stuff, maybe not with a great passion or anything, but he did enjoy the learning process when it was something interesting.

Which was why the field trip that they had taken a few weeks back stuck so prominently in his mind. It was court ordered that the entire group go on three learning experiences per year, and this had been the second one. It was a walking trip to one of the most respected houses in town. An old man lived there and did basic repairs. His ancestor had built the house and was a town founder, ever since then his family had excelled in the town, be it financially, ecologically, or holding public office. The man's family had done a lot for the town.

The idea was that they would be inspired to do better in life. Spike didn't really see how it would work, he already knew that he was going to be a good person, maybe not a great or famous person, but he intended to be good. The other's were clearly uninspired.

In fact the only thing that seemed to keep their attention was all of the things in the house. Like the antique silver mirrors, the knick knacks and fancy throw pillows flung around. They even tried to go upstairs to see what was there, of course they had been stopped and politely asked to remain in the first floor. There were still a lot of very interesting things there, old books bound with actual leather, some statues that appeared to be made out of real porcelain and gold. Spike had spent a few minutes studying a portrait.

The amount of information that the old man gave was interesting in and of itself, he was surprised how interesting he found the entire process...Just when they were ending had to be his favorite part though. The old man was nice enough to give all of them a piece of homemade rock candy. He claimed to have large vats in his basement where he made his own. That cemented him in Spikes mind, he had to be one of the greatest men that Spike ever met.

Spike felt someone gently shaking him.

"Spike. Spike." A singsong voice spoke softly. Spike's eyes fluttered open. His roommates were standing over him, Garble had a large grin on his face Grunt and Clunk were shifting nervously, and Crackle watched with stoic interest.

"Hey Spikey Wikey." Garble said as he began to pull the younger boy up. "Get some dark clothes on, the five of us are going for a little walk. You don't mind right?"

Spike gulped as he was pulled up. He clearly had no choice in the discussion. He began to pull on his darkest clothes, black on black with more black. He wished that he had more colors, maybe some purple or green, they were his favorite colors after all. Garble frowned in annoyance, Spike was taking too long.

Glowering Grunt gave Spike a sharp push.

"Yo hurry up." Spike stumbled and began to pull on his clothes faster. Finally dressed he looked at the four of them.

"What's happening? Why am I dressed?" Clunk wrapped his arm around Spike's shoulders and pulled him close, almost like a hug. If a hug made the young boy's skin crawl.

"Buffy boy, haven't you ever wondered where we sometimes go at night?" Spike frowned, he hadn't even known that they would leave the house. He was a very heavy sleeper after all. "Well tonight we thought that you were finally old enough that we could include you."

"Hey, don't tell him everything. We don't want to ruin the surprise. Our little buddy needs some excitement."

"Well ladies, freaks, Spikey. Let's go." Garble said. They walked out of the room, and quickly got into Garble's horrifying death vehicle that he called a car. Spike firmly sandwiched in the middle seat so that he was stuck with them.

They drove quickly and before Spike knew it they had parked the car. Everyone piled out and trotted quickly.

"Spike if you make a noise we're going to skin you alive. Got it?" Garble whispered. Spike gulped and nodded. His eyes widened when he recognized where they were. The lovely home, old but well kept. The hedges around it kept the entire place hidden from the street.  
Spike was about to ask a question when he remembered what Garble had just threatened him with. The sunburned boy stopped and turned to the group.

"Listen, we need some easy cash fast Spikey. So we thought that a guy with so much wouldn't miss a couple of stuff missing. Won't be the first time we've done something like this. But this will be the biggest score. Here's the problem, doors are locked, windows barred, but the chimney is open. New problem, none of us can fit through it..." Spike realized what he was asking. He looked at the boy wide-eyed and horrified.

"No, please no." Garble's slightly considerate facade dropped and he stood to his full height.  
"Listen brat, you are going to shimmy down that chimney and let us in, then you are going to help us get the most cash that you can carry. We'll give you a cut of the earnings; but if you warn anyone, or scream or screw up...well..."He took out his pocket knife and flipped the blade out. "I'm going to show you the difference between scalp damage and skull damage."

Spike gulped and looked at the group. There was no sympathy from any of them, only expectation, that he would do it or get hurt.  
"Okay, okay I'll do it." Spike hung his head in resignation, they could make him do anything. He had no power whatsoever.

He moved to the side of the building, the rest around him. He looked up the side, there were a few loose bricks he could use to climb. Before he could start Crackle picked him up and pushed him up halfway. He grasped the side of the building and began to climb quickly. He found himself on the roof. He looked down at the nodding Garble.

Taking a deep breath Spike looked down the shaft. He then climbed in.

Popping out into the living room Spike coughed, covered in soot and one hundred percent certain that he was going to suffocate in the claustrophobic chimney shaft. He felt some tears traveling down his cheeks. He wiped at them and quickly stood up, he moved through the room and went into the hallway. He froze, there was a light on, a light down in the basement.

Moving cautiously Spike went to the doorway and looked down. Sleeping, his head resting on a desk covered with scraps of paper was the old man. The old man looked so peaceful, at ease and completely tiptoed down the stairs and looked at him, he looked as old as the house. And for a moment Spike envied the old man, he had wanted nothing and had a home, a strong family bond. Spike looked around him, along the sides of the wall were enormous vats and hanging from the ceiling were long strings covered in rock candy. Spike looked back at the old man and then at the strings.

He didn't deserve this, not one bit.

Spike quickly picked up a piece of paper. He jotted down the address of the home. He paused and then added a couple more lines.

The children stole your stuff they have a hostage tied in the closet

A friend

Spike breathed out. He was going to do this, he was going to do maybe the one single good thing that he had ever done in his entire life. He could do this. He put the note on the table and ran quickly up the stairs. He closed the basement door, no light came through. They wouldn't even know that the old man was down there. Spike ran to the front door and unlocked it. Garble, Grunt, Clunk and Crackle were standing there grinning.

"Good job kiddo!" Garble said as he pulled the younger boy into a headlock and rubbed his knuckles into Spikes head. "We'll make you one of us yet!" Spike grinned, his teeth standing out from his sooty face.

As they were going through the house, pushing priceless family heirlooms into trash bags Garble called Spike over.  
"Spikey I thought that I would give you a little gift." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a lighter, it was purple with green lines going around the sides of it. "Just as a thank you, you really came through for us tonight dude." Garble pushed it into Spikes hands and he turned it over and over, he could almost feel the heat coming from it, the possible power it contained. He almost wanted to spill the beans about what he had left written in the basement.

"I know how much you like setting fires after all." Spike bit back the anger working through him, he wanted to shout, he wanted to say

'You forced me to set that fire! I never wanted to! You were the ones who were bored!' It wasn't his fault that it had gotten so out of control so quickly, or that they had been caught, or that they had been expelled. But of course they had shifted the blame to him, and now he was forever remembered as the crazy firebug.

He hadn't wanted to set the fire, they made him do it. And he had not said a word about it, but not now. Now he was going to get them back, he was going to do something even better. He was going to do the right thing.

Spike slipped the lighter into his pocket and forced a smile.

* * *

The sirens were coming down the long winding road. It was early the next afternoon and Spike was outside underneath a tree so he was the first to hear them. The other four were out, in town supposedly. Probably looking for someone to pawn the stolen jewels, statues, fine clothing, books and other things they had taken the other night. They had left him at the home. Spike had no complaints. The headmistress was still asleep, snoring away. He wouldn't have much time to set the scene.

Spike quickly ran to the house, up the stairs and was in the room in a heartbeat. He dove under Grunt's bed and pulled out a length of rope. The guy always had something weird with him like that. Spike dove into the closet and began to get to work in total darkness. He wrapped and knotted his hands and feet and chest, difficult, but it would look realistic, he hoped.

* * *

The headmistress was standing outside talking to police officers when the car rolled back into the yard. Crackle was driving and made little distressed noises in her throat. Garble looked on wide-eyed as they parked.

The headmistress was talking to the chief and pointed the car out to them. Garble was the first one out, he was going to do the talking.

"You Garble?" The police officer said, his shaved head gleaming.  
"Who want's to know?" Before the police man could respond there were footsteps from inside. Two more police officers came down the stairs and out into the yard. One of them had his phone out and held it to the head police officer.

He looked at the picture and then to the next police officer coming outside. The woman had Spike with her. He was wrapped in a blanket and looking at the ground.

"We found the kid tied up in the closet. Along with the rest of the stuff underneath the beds or shoved in there with him." Garble's mouth began to open and close he tried to speak but nothing would come out. He was too angry to communicate.

"You four are under arrest for breaking and entering, burglary and kidnapping. Anything you say can and will be-" Garble shook his head as the cuffs were being tightened around his wrists. He looked at Spike, he could tell, the little punk had ratted them out.

"SPIKE! SPIKE YOU RAT!" Garble lunged forward and began to thrash wildly. Grunt and Clunk tried to follow his example but were quickly forced to the ground.

"Add resisting arrest and attempted assault to the list." The head police officer said as he pushed Garble's face into the dirt. The headmistress walked to where Spike was standing and wrapped her arms protectively around him. Spike didn't even have the decency to look up.

"SPIKE! I'LL KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU RAT FREAK! I'LL MURDER YOU! SNITCH! SNITCHES GET STITCHES! FREEEEEEEAAAAAKKKKK!" Garble was forced into the back of the police car, his head hitting the roof once before he was in. He kept on shouting abuse to the young boy who stood and watched. He watched as the four people he had known for so long were being carted off. His tormenters, his jailers, the people that hated him most in the world.

They were gone, and for the first time in his life he felt a great weight lift from off of his shoulders. Spike actually smiled as the cars pulled out and away. He thought that that would be the last he would ever see of them.


	70. Chapter 70

**Okay one chapter more it is mostly clean up from here on out, thank you all for keeping up and please give this story tons of reviews! Thank you! By the way I own nothing, not even this computer.**

"And that was that, I got adopted by you guys later and then came here. I never thought I would see them again." Spike paused and looked at everyone in the room. The people who were not crying were on the verge of it. Diamond Tiara was covering her mouth and wiping at her eyes to clear the gathering tears, Silver Spoon holding her softly.

"Why are you two so sad? I told you it before."  
"Because you idiot it's a sad story!"

"IT'S HEARTBREAKING!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she threw herself on top of Spike and hugged him hard. Almost knocking Sweetie Belle off of him and onto the floor."Who would be so cruel?! You're a freaking lamb chop!"  
"Pinkie, you're hurting him." Twilight Velvet said softly as she drew the blushing embarrassed girl away from Spike. She then held the boy close instead. "You should have told us, why wouldn't you tell us?"

"I...I wasn't used to it. To being a part of a family. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want you guys to get hurt." Spike said softly, he actually felt like crying now, the sniffling coming from Fluttershy didn't make him feel any better. Rarity was dabbing at her eyes with a white handkerchief as Applejack wrapped her in her arms and only looked sadly at the boy, her hat tilted so far down that it almost covered her eyes.

Scootaloo and Applebloom were holding hands, Appleblooms free one wiping at the tears and snot at her face that dribbled down.

"You really crawled down a chimney? Was it cool?" Scootaloo asked passively. Applebloom glared down at her, Scootaloo lowered her head realizing that this was not the time or place for jokes.  
"Spike you're too tough for your own good." Shining Armor said as he gently touched his little brothers hair. "You should have told us from the beginning, I-I well..."

"The only reason that he's not breaking your arms is because he is so happy you're safe." Twilight said as she crouched down at the end of his bed and looked him in the eyes. "And the same goes for me."

"Girls? I don't mean to be cruel or anything, but can the family have a moment of privacy please? I want to talk with Spike." Night Light said softly, if everyone had not been as quiet as mice than they would not have heard him. The gaggle of girls nodded and slowly slid out of the room, throwing looks and words of encouragement behind them at the bedridden boy.

Sweetie Belle stayed against his chest and squeezed him tighter.  
"Sweetie..."Rarity called back to where her sister was cuddled up against.

"It's okay, I-I want her to stay." Spike spoke up before she could leave "Do you want to stay?" He asked down to her.

"Just try to get me to leave." She replied looking up at him,her eyes as soft and reflective as painted marble. Spike shivered and his heart rate monitor spiked drastically.

There was a significant amount of space in the room now but the small family pulled in even tighter together around the boy.

"I am so happy that you are safe, but so pissed off that you didn't tell us that you were in trouble. I mean...what were you even thinking?" Night Light asked as he took a hold of Spike's hand and gently began to stroke it with his thumb.  
"I wasn't I was too caught up in trying to be the tough guy to ask for help. I am so sorry."

"Well you are going to be grounded for this mister. But it will probably be a very loose punishment and-and-and" Twilight Velvet began to cry softly, no deep breaths, no theatrics. Just tears coming down her face.  
"I am so glad that we didn't loose you." Spike felt his heart drop to his stomach, he had actually been considering abandoning them, he had been considering abandoning his family. The first people in this entire world who had loved him, and he wanted to get as far away front hem as possible. And because of what? Some losers from his past that he thought had power over him? Some freaks that tried to convince him he didn't deserve to be happy because he never stooped to their level?

No. Never again. It had taken him so long to get to this moment, he had been through hell to get to this moment. And he was never going to let it go. Ever again.

"I am so sorry." Spike's voice cracked childishly at the end of the sentence "I never wanted you guys to have to go through any of this I should have told you everything right from the start."

"Why the home never told us any of this is what I want to know." Twilight said angrily, she had an excellent point, a kid being tormented by some psychos would probably be at least something to talk about in passing!

"Well it's over, this part at least." Night Light said. Spike stiffened and his heart rate began to race.  
"This part?"  
"Garble still needs to go to trial, he still needs to go to jail. There is still going to be a process. Not to mention your rehabilitation for all of the...tissue damage, and muscle damage and ...well I am sorry Spike but this is going to be a long time coming. And if you're up to it, I think that you might need counseling. If you're not traumatized by any of this-"  
"Hey I'm traumatized and I only listened to the story!"Twilight said indignantly.  
"Sounds like it might take a while before this is over huh?" Spike said resigned. He should have known, he really should have figured this entire thing out by now. It was never over for him.  
"Yeah and I'll be next to you every step of the way." Sweetie Belle said softly as she ran her fingertips across his jaw and shoulder. He had almost forgotten that she was there, she had become so close to him, like a part of him, a limb or his eyes. Something that he would notice if not there.  
"Really?" Spike asked excited, every step of the way. She would be there.  
"Really." She responded. Spike didn't even care if he was in pain, or that his family was right there. Leaning down he kissed Sweetie Belle on the lips as hard as he could.

Twilight Velvet cleared her throat pointedly and raised an eyebrow, the two continued to ignore the others. Lost between the universes that were expanding and contracting between their lips and heated skin.  
"AHEM!" Twilight said loudly and Spike pulled away from Sweetie, a couple of blushes and goofy grins on their faces.  
"And this isn't brining into account getting you back into school. If you're up for it."  
"School?" Spike said. His smile tightened but remained. "Of course I want to go back. As soon as possible."

"Really?" Shining Armor said surprised. "Why?"  
"I met my best friends there, of course I want to go back and see them again." Spike said simply. Night Light began to snicker, then laugh and then he was almost gasping for breath.

"I-I-I'm sorry." He said waving a hand at the others who looked at him as if he had just grown another head on top of his current one. "I was not expecting that response, and well I am just so happy that you are safe Spike, son I am just so happy that you are back here. With us."

He then began to laugh again, Spike began to giggle and then started to laugh as well. Twilight and her mother tried to hold out but soon they had to hold themselves up against his bed to keep from falling over with their own fits of the giggles. Shining Armor was guffawing and holding his sides. Sweetie Belle found the laughter infectious and was soon laughing along with the family.

Spike relished in the pain in his body, in the laughter ripping out of his lungs and the thrumming in his entire body. He looked at the laughing Sweetie Belle who was burrowing her face into his chest and tears of joy pooling on his bandages, they would need to be changed soon.

Spike smiled and laughed even harder. He was alive! This was life! He was loved!

And he wasn't going to ever let this get away from him again, he would fight harder if anything like this happened again, but he wouldn't be fighting alone. He had his sister, his brother, his parents, his multitude of friends, and of course the love of his life. All so close.

In fact one was within arms reach. And he made sure to pull her closer and plant a kiss on the top of her curly haired head. The girl who had suffered through so much for him, the girl who had done everything in her power to be close to him. Spike promised himself that he would always make sure to return the favor, again and again and again.

Outside the room the other girls were waiting in the hospital waiting room. They were talking excitedly, some sadly, some happily, but all hopefully. He was awake, and he was safe. And it was over. Garble in prison, his cronies disappeared to the winds and their little friend on the mend.

Outside the hospital it was dark, night, the stars were coming out one by one. Two boys were walking down the highway, their thumbs outstretched, trying to get as far away as possible from the cray people who lived in the town. Away from their abusive friend and away from the kid that they had tried to kill, away from the police and escape from their past. Hopefully they could find work in Canada, maybe on a lobster boat or something. At least they had each other.

A girl is hiding out in the woods waiting, patiently, knowing that if she is very quiet than she can disappear. But not before she finishes some business.

A woman covered in tattoos is closing up after a poetry slam. She locks the front door to her little store full of knick knacks and masks. She looks up at the sky and feels a chill go down her spine. She absentmindedly wonders about a little boy whose future she read a few days ago. And she hopes that he managed to get out of it. Or at least ride it out to better times.

A sunburned teenager is sitting in a cell in a jailhouse. His hair is flopping out of it's gel and he has a busted lip from getting hit in the face by someone before they managed to arrest him. He is angry and wants nothing more than to get out and back at someone. But before that, he really wants a cigarette.

But these people are not important. Who is important is a boy sitting in a hospital room, cuddled up next to the girl he loves. And laughing so hard that his sides hurt. But it is a good hurt, a kind that lets him know that he is alive. And that things can only get better from there.

 **And now all that is left is the epilogue. I hope that everyone enjoyed the ride, this has been one of the greatest stories that I have ever written. And just for the record I own nothing not even this computer. Thank you all for the great reviews and if you are patient I hope that I can have one last chapter out very soon.**


	71. Chapter 71

**This is the very end. Enjoy**

Spike swallowed the lump in his throat, for possibly the thirtieth time. He hoped that they weren't moving too slowly down the sidewalk, he didn't want Sweetie to be late getting home.

She didn't seem to mind though. She was holding his arm in both of hers, and leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked towards the Carousel Boutique. She had justified her holding on to him to help him walk, now she was just snuggled up against his side, going at the same pace that he could go with his cane.

He had been issued one to use for the remainder of the year to help him walk. He had severe fractures going through his legs and ribs, not to mention a million new scars on his back, stomach and face. Still it could have been much worse. And the cane wasn't too bad, it made him feel sort of like someone out of a story book. Especially at this time of night when he was strolling home with his arms around his girlfriend.

They were coming back from a concert that Sweetie had been in at the high school. She had been practicing for weeks in advance to try and get her voice perfect for the performance. The concert had gone on for around two hours, with her singing in six different songs. She had gotten a standing ovation at the very end with people jumping up and down and cheering wildly. Spike trying his best to be one of those among them.

She had raised off of the stage directly after the show to get to him and the others.

It still surprised Spike how impressive her range of musical talents were, going from showtunes, pop and classic rock, aria's and the finale was a rapid fire rap song that she spat out fast enough that her lips had become a blur.

She never ceased to amaze him.

"You okay?" Sweetie asked looking up at him. The four of them, Sweetie, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Spike had gone to the park after all of the parents and family members had gotten pictures, hugs and congratulated the exhilarated Sweetie Belle.

For the rest of the night they had sat around a table talking about stupid trivial things that seemed to matter more than anything else int he world. Also Scootaloo thought she might have found the solution to climate change but had forgotten it within a few seconds. That had been the way their conversations had gone on all night, just four young friends, with their entire lives ahead of them and who would probably be together for as long as they lived.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."  
"About?" Sweetie paused and looked up at him, her eyes wide by how close the two of them were, there was still some make up on her face from the performance. Subtle blush, white base to make her entire face pop, and green eyeshadow to enunciate her eyes.  
"How pretty it is tonight. How pretty you look tonight." Sweetie smiled and stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss.

He had grown a lot physically lately, his favorite purple sweatshirt was starting to feel tight around his armpits and wrists.

"You're the pretty one. I'm just talented."  
"And modest." Spike responded dryly. They had to start walking again, Scootaloo had been the one to remark on how late the night had gotten, so they had split up into two groups. Spike walked his girlfriend home, while Applebloom rolled hers back home.

"Sometimes I wish that moments like this could last forever you know?" Spike said as he took one of her hands in his own and planted his cheap cane firmly and pushed off again.  
"I know what you mean, but there are just as many other good moments." Sweetie responded "I want to experience as many of them with you as I can, so don't get used to this one. Because I guarantee it will change soon." Sweetie said with a grin. "And it will be even better."

"Performers are wasted on you. You could become a poet."  
"Singers are the twenty-first century poets cutie."

Spike laughed at that and felt his body drink in the moment that they were sharing, the tenderness that surrounded them like a cloud and how even though he had to go to physical therapy tomorrow afternoon with Scootaloo, how it would hurt and be obnoxious, how he wouldn't be climbing any trees with Applebloom any time soon or dancing to a fast song with Sweetie for too long...he was content with it. He felt whole again.

They were at Sweetie Belle's front door and they paused underneath the light to the store door.

"Well here we are." She said softly folding her hands behind her back and tilting on her heels. She smiled at him and Spike almost felt as if he were having a heart attack.  
"Yeah, here we are." He replied. He gently took her face in his free hand and pulled her into a very soft kiss. It was slow and deep. Their lips almost disappearing into the others face, almost fusing them together into one person. Sweetie sighed and breathed through her nose, she caught his smell, his deep, rich, lovely odor.

Spike gently touched her smooth skin, it was as soft as a gentle misty rainfall. As if she had found a way to capture the beauty of nature inside of her own body and hold it there forever. Spike felt her reach up and gently massage his scalp with her fingertips, he replied by moving to the back of her neck and pulling her closer to himself, her long hair tickling his knuckles. They stayed that way for a few more moments before finally pulling away and smiling red faced at each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?"  
"Of course. Text me when you get home okay?" Spike leaned down and gave her a kiss on the lips as if he were signing a letter.

"Okay." He turned and began to make his way down the street. He probably could have gotten a ride, but he liked working his leg this way. It made him feel stronger. And it was good to get some exercise in even when he wasn't at Physical Therapy.

Spike slowly wandered down the street, his cane making soft clicking sounds on the sidewalk. The night was very clear, he could see every star sparkling in the sky. The moon was at it's peak and hovering, illuminating his way home.

Spike was almost at the halfway point between his home and Sweetie's. He began to cross over the bridge slowly, he felt his arm get tired and began to slow down. Eventually he got to the very top and stood still for a moment panting. He closed his eyes and looked around, it wasn't completely quiet just yet, but it was getting there people were starting to turn in for the night.

Spike leaned on the railing and looked out over the small sliver of town that he could see and sighed happily.

Suddenly he was thrown across the street to the other side of the bridge. He landed heavily on his side, the wind knocked out of him. He gasped and looked up. Towering across from his was Crackle. She strode over slowly and deliberately. Spike quickly scrambled to his feet and began to limp as fast as he could down the street, his cane forgotten.

She just kept coming until she was beside him again and tripped him to the ground. Spike was on his back and she simply put a foot on his chest and began to press down.

Spike gasped and squirmed on the ground looking up at hurt with pain and terror. Spike had nothing, he couldn't fight back, he knew he would never be able to hurt her. But there was something he could try.

Because he wasn't going to just let her break him this time. He had way too much to lose this time.

"C-C-C-Crackle. Listen to m-m-m-e-eeeee." She began to ease up, not enough that he could scream, but she wasn't breaking his ribs anymore.  
"I know you're angry. You have every right to be, I have no idea what happened to you in prison, or afterwards. But I know how it was at the home. Please, please believe me when I say that you don't have to...you don't have to be like that anymore. You're out, you're free. You can do whatever you want." He took a deep breath, it was time for the warhead strike. She would either kill him or let him go. He hoped it was the latter.

"I know that you are in love with him. I know how much it feels to not have someone you love. It hurts. But Crackle, he was bad, he was horrible, evil. And you, well you're not. I know this. Please, you don't have to do what he says anymore. You just don't."

Crackle paused, she looked down at him. She removed her foot and looked down at him. She reached down and picked him up by the shoulders, pulled him until they were face level. She looked him deep in the eyes. He wondered if she was planning on strangling him to death now.

Then she pulled him close and hugged him. Spike froze and waited. The goliath of a girl just stood and held him. She then sat him back down on the sidewalk, picked up his cane and brought it back to him. She looked him in the eyes as she handed it to him.

"Thank you." Spike said looking at her.

"Thank you." she whispered back before turning and walking along the sidewalk to disappear into the night. Spike looked after her for a moment. He took a deep breath and let it out.

He looked up at the sky. And he would swear this until the end of his days. The stars looked like Sweetie Belle was looking down at him, happily smiling. For the life of him he would never be able to find the constellation again. But he didn't need to.

Because he had the real Sweetie Belle with him.

 **Well this is the last chapter. Thank you all so much for keeping with this story even when I have lost interest in it a few times. Please review if you can. This is the longest story that I have ever written, which is really just amazing now that I think about it. Once more thank you for the reviews.**

 **I own nothing, not even this computer my little pony friendship is magic is owned by Hasbro.**


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